Greece at the Olympics while Greece has also hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics. During the parade of nations at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, Greece always enters the stadium first and leads the parade to honor its status as the birthplace of the Olympics, with the notable exception of 2004 when Greece entered last as the host nation. Before the Games the Olympic Flame is lit in Olympia, the site of the Ancient Olympic Games, in a ceremony that reflects ancient Greek rituals and initiates the Olympic torch relay. The flag of Greece is always hoisted in the closing ceremony, along with
1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony Canadian singer Celine Dion and American singer Gladys Knight. The ceremony attendance was 85,600. It was watched by an estimated 3.5billion viewers worldwide. The ceremony began with a countdown at the screen coming from 60 to 1. Starting at 22, footage from previous games appeared with Atlanta at the end complete with an image of fireworks. The segment began by airing a flashback from the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in August 1992 which showed International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch inviting the athletes to compete in Atlanta in 1996. Spirits then rose from the northwest corner of