The closing ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on August 29, 2004, at 21:15 EEST (UTC+3) at the Olympic Stadium, in Marousi, Greece, a suburb of Athens.

Proceedings

Victory Ceremony

The medals for the competition were presented by Jacques Rogge, IOC President; Belgium, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Lamine Diack, IAAF President; Senegal. The final victory ceremony was held to the three Men's marathon medallists : 🇮🇹 Stefano Baldini - Gold 🇺🇸 Mebrahtom Keflezighi - Silver<br / >🇧🇷 Vanderlei de Lima - Bronze

Parade of Nations

The flag bearers of 202 National Olympic Committees entered the stadium in a single file in Greek alphabetical order, followed by the athletes. The Greek and Chinese flag bearers, weightlifter Pyrros Dimas and Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, entered first as they were the current and next host nation.

Speeches and Games declares closed

ATHOC President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, IOC President Jacques Rogge delivered their speeches, the latter in Greek, French, and English. IOC President Rogge declared the closing of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens, thanking Athens ("Ευχαριστούμε, Αθήνα. Ευχαριστούμε, Ελλάδα." - "Thank you, Athens. Thank you, Greece.") and calling upon the youth of the world to assemble 4 years from now in Beijing in accordance with tradition. He also awarded the Olympic Order in Gold to Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalki, President of the Athens Organizing Committee.

Newly elected athlete members of the International Olympic Committee

The four athlete members who were elected are:

Handover of the Olympic flag

Mayor of Athens Dora Bakoyannis, handed over the Olympic flag as the representative of Athens 2004 to the IOC President Jacques Rogge. The flag was then passed to the Mayor of Beijing Wang Qishan, who represented the committee members of the next host city, Beijing 2008, led by Liu Qi. Both Greek and Chinese flags were raised following the handover.

Lowering the Olympic flag

The Olympic flag was lowered, while the Greek choirs sang the Olympic Anthem in Greek. The flag was raised again in Turin, Italy during the opening ceremony at Stadio Olimpico on the evening of 10 February, 2006.

Extinguishing of the Olympic flame

The cauldron of the Olympic flame was lowered, followed by the Greek 10-year-old girl Fotini Papaleonidopoulou from SOS Children's Villages lighting a lantern with the Olympic flame with the help of sailing gold medalists Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa. The lantern was then passed onto other children from around the world, before the flame in the cauldron was blown out.

Dignitaries in attendance

Dignitaries from International organizations

Host country dignitaries

Foreign Dignitaries from abroad

Anthems

Victory ceremonies

Music performances

Various music performances by Greek singers were featured in the Athens Olympic Stadium: Other Greek singers featured include: