2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games was held on August 13, 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi, Greece, a suburb of Athens. 72,000 spectators attended the event, with approximately 15,000 athletes from 202 countries participating in the ceremony as well. It marked the first-ever international broadcast of high definition television, undertaken by the U.S. broadcaster NBC and the Japanese broadcaster NHK. The opening ceremony began with a twenty-eight second countdown—one second per Olympics held since Athens last hosted the first modern games—paced by the sounds of an amplified heartbeat played by
Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Summer Olympics and triathlete Mohamad Masoo; and in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where a support program run by former marathon world record holder Tegla Loroupe identified 23 athletes. On 3 June 2016, the IOC announced a team of ten athletes would compete as part of the refugee team at the Games. The team was led by Loroupe, who acted as a "peace ambassador". Rose Lokonyen was selected as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony, and judoka Popole Misenga was chosen to carry the flag for the closing ceremony. Four men and two women competed in the Games in the athletics