2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony the Opening Ceremonies, for example in the last Olympics before that, in Salt Lake City, where banners of the previous 18 Winter Olympics entered Rice-Eccles Stadium at the beginning of the ceremony. This would also be seen in Vancouver during the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics and on the Televised version of the Olympic Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The first speech came from Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the chief organizer of the Athens 2004 Olympics and the first female chief organizer of an Olympic games. She told the athletes: "Welcome home!" and "Greece is standing before
Independent Olympic Athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics Marial qualified for the men's marathon and had been accepted as an independent Olympian. Brooklyn Kerlin was the flag bearer of the athletes during the opening ceremony. She was chosen by her peers to represent the "makers of the Olympics". Hannah Bailes, a London 2012 Ceremonies Cast Member, who was also a volunteer, was selected to carry the Independent Olympic Athletes placard. Independent Olympic Athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics Four Independent Olympic Athletes competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, in the United Kingdom. These were athletes from the former Netherlands Antilles, and from the newly formed state