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
Olympic Games ceremony doves perched themselves at the cauldron's rim and were burned alive in the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. It was later replaced with a symbolic release of doves after the flame has been lit. In the 2000 ceremony, a dove image was projected on an enormous white cloth held by the athletes on the stadium floor. In 2004, an LED screen was used. In 2006, acrobats formed the shape of a dove. The 2008 ceremony had fireworks representing doves. In 2010, dove figures were projected on the stage floor. The 2012 ceremony