2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympics are officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (the 28th Summer Olympic Games). The Games were held in Athens over 17 days, from August 13 to August 29, 2004. Planners expected 10,500 athletes (in fact 11,099 competed) and 5,500 team officials from 202 countries. Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. There were a total of 301 medal events from 28 different sports.

Sports

The sports featured at the 2004 Summer Olympics are listed below. Officially there were 28 sports as swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo are classified by the IOC as disciplines within the sport of aquatics, and wheelchair racing was a demonstation sport. For the first time, the wrestling category featured women's wrestling and in the fencing competition women competed in the sabre. American Kristin Heaston, who led off the qualifying round of women's shotput became the first woman to compete at the ancient site of Olympia but Cuban Yumileidi Cumba became the first woman to win a gold medal there.

Related Topics:
Aquatics - Sabre - Kristin Heaston - Yumileidi Cumba

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The demonstration sport of wheelchair racing was a joint Olympic/Paralympic event, allowing a Paralympic event to occur within the Olympics, and for the future, opening up wheelchair racing to the able-bodied. The 2004 Summer Paralympics were also held in Athens, from September 17 to 28.

Related Topics:
Paralympic - Wheelchair racing - 2004 Summer Paralympics - September 17 - 28

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Articles about Athens Summer Olympics by sport:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~