Italy at the 2004 Summer Olympics the nation's best finisher four years earlier, dropped one place in the rankings. However, the two Olympic rookies both placed better than Gemignani had in the first race. Italy at the 2004 Summer Olympics Italy competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from the 13th to the 29th of August 2004. This nation has competed at every Summer Olympic games in the modern era, except for the sparsely attended 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. The Italian National Olympic Committee (Italian: "Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI") sent the nation's largest ever delegation in history to the Games. A
Olympic Games national anthems are played: the flag of the current host country; the flag of Greece, to honour the birthplace of the Olympic Games; and the flag of the country hosting the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games. The president of the organising committee and the IOC president make their closing speeches, the Games are officially closed, and the Olympic flame is extinguished. In what is known as the Antwerp Ceremony, the mayor of the city that organised the Games transfers a special Olympic flag to the president of the IOC, who then passes it on to the mayor of the