On this day, August 13, 2004, the Olympic Summer Games came home to Greece for the XXVIII Olympiad.
Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997.
The athletic festival held in Athens took place August 13–29, 2004.
Fireworks lit up the sky as some 11,000 athletes representing 202 countries marched in front of 70,000 spectators during the opening ceremony.
Athena and Phevos were the official mascots of the 2004 Summer Olympics. The mascots were named after the Greek gods Athena and Apollo, Phevos being a transcription of the modern Greek pronunciation of Phoebus, an epithet of Apollo.
The ceremony ended with 1996 gold medalist windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis lighting the altar of the Olympic Stadium, marking the beginning of the 28th Olympic Games.
