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
State Procession at the State Opening of Parliament State Procession at the State Opening of Parliament A State Procession is a formal display of the Sovereign, dignified by a sizeable entourage made up of Great Officers of State, members of the Royal Family and of the Royal Household. The State Opening of Parliament is one of the few occasions when a State Procession is to be seen; the Coronation Procession is another. The State Procession is now confined to the interior of the Palace of Westminster, but in earlier centuries it followed an outdoor route to and from Westminster Abbey. An account of Henry VII opening Parliament on