2004 Summer Paralympics - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 2004 Summer Paralympics were held in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, from September 17 to September 28. The twelfth Paralympic Games

Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete; this includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and Cerebral Palsy. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which are held immediately following their...

, an estimated 4,000 athletes took part in the Athens programme, with ages ranging from 11 to 66. Paralympic events had already taken place during the 2004 Summer Olympics as demonstration sport

Demonstration sport

A demonstration sport is a sport which is played to promote itself, most commonly during the Olympic Games, but also at other sporting events.Demonstration sports were officially introduced in 1912 Summer Olympics, when Sweden decided to include glima, traditional Icelandic wrestling, in the...

s - women's 800 m and men's 1500 m wheelchair races. These races were open to able-bodied people and were without disability classification - as such, they did not form part of the official Paralympic programme. See Wheelchair racing at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Wheelchair racing at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Wheelchair racing at the 2004 Summer Olympics was featured as two demonstration events as part of the Athletics programme at the Athens Olympic Stadium on August 22, 2004. Medals were not awarded, as the sport was not part of the official competition....

for more details.

Athletes with learning difficulties were excluded from the games due to the difficulties in testing for and classifying these disabilities. The exclusion was introduced after the 2000 Summer Paralympics

2000 Summer Paralympics

The 2000 Paralympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia, from 18 October to 29 October. The eleventh Summer Paralympic Games, an estimated 3800 athletes took part in the Sydney programme. They commenced with the opening ceremony on 18 October 2000...

in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, the first games with events exclusively for people with learning difficulties (and the second with such athletes), after it was found that the majority of the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

team were not disabled. The International Paralympic Committee

International Paralympic Committee

The International Paralympic Committee is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports...

(IPC) stated that the exclusion would continue until there are sufficient tests for the disabilities and a way to measure the effect they have on a sport. Exhibition matches for these categories were featured in the Games in basketball and table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

, and the Special Olympics

Special Olympics

Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries....

remains the major sporting event specifically designed for athletes with learning difficulties.

Medal count

A total of 1567 medals were awarded during the Athens games: 519 gold, 516 silver, and 532 bronze. China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

topped the medal count with more gold medals, more silver medals, and more medals overall than any other nation. In the table below, the ranking sorts by the number of gold medals earned by a nation (in this context a nation is an entity represented by a National Paralympic Committee).

1	align=left	\|63	46	32	141
2	align=left	\|35	30	29	94
3	align=left	\|28	19	25	72
4	United States	27	22	39	88
5	Australia	26	38	36	100
6	align=left	\|24	12	19	55
7	Spain	20	27	24	71
8	Germany	19	28	31	78
9	Early Modern France	18	26	30	74
10	Japan	17	16	20	53

Among the top individual medal winners was Mayumi Narita

Mayumi Narita

is a Japanese swimmer, described as "one of the world’s best Paralympic athletes" by the International Paralympic Committee. Japan Today has described her as a "swimming sensation perhaps as great as the Thorpedo but whose name few know"...

of Japan, who took seven golds and one bronze medal in swimming, setting six world records in the process and bringing her overall Paralympic gold medal total to fifteen. Chantal Petitclerc

Chantal Petitclerc

Chantal Petitclerc, CC is a Canadian wheelchair racer.At the age of thirteen, she lost the use of both legs when a heavy barn door fell on her...

of Canada won five golds and set three world records in wheelchair racing, while Swedish shooter Jonas Jacobsson

Jonas Jacobsson

Jonas Jacobsson is a Swedish sport shooter who has won several gold medals at the Paralympic Games. He has participated in eight consecutive Summer Paralympics from 1980 to 2008, winning a total of sixteen gold, two silver, and nine bronze medals...

took four gold medals. France's Béatrice Hess

Béatrice Hess

Béatrice Pierre Hess, born in 1961 or 1962, is a French swimmer. The French newspaper L'Humanité has described her as "one of the best swimmers in the world", while the magazine Marianne has described her as "the French Thorpedo".Competing at the Paralympic Games, Hess won four gold medals in 1984,...

won her nineteenth and twentieth Paralympic gold medals in swimming. Swimmer Trischa Zorn

Trischa Zorn

Trischa Zorn, born June 1, 1964 in Orange, California, is a United States swimmer. Blind from birth, she competes in Paralympic swimming . She is, at present, the most successful athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games, having won 55 medals, of which 41 are gold...

of the United States won just one medal, a bronze, but it was her 55th ever Paralympic medal. She retained her position as the most successful Paralympian of all times.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony for the 2004 Summer Paralympics took place on September 17, 2004. The show started with children passing on knowledge and raising their lights to the sky. This was a reference to Hippocrates

Hippocrates

Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...

, who transferred knowledge to the children. A 26 meters tall olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

tree (with more than 195,000 leaves) symbolising life stood in the middle of the arena. The opening ceremony also featured a performance with human drama, with light and with music, in an allegory

Allegory

Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...

about obstacles and limits.
The Parade of Delegations was accompanied by the music of French composers Yves Stepping and Jean Christophe. The music told the legend of Hephaestos, god of fire and son of Zeus

Zeus

In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

and Hera

Hera

Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her...

. An athlete from Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...

propelled himself around the stadium by doing somersaults. Greece, the home team, received a strong cheer. After that, fireworks erupted at the stadium.
There were 150 local support staff involved and 400 volunteers. The children were from ages 8 to 17, coming from Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Spain

Spain

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.
The Games were officially declared opened by Greek president Costis Stephanopoulos

Costis Stephanopoulos

Konstantinos Stephanopoulos was the sixth President of the Third Hellenic Republic.Stephanopoulos was born in Patras. After attending the Saint Andrew school of Patras, he studied law at Athens University...

and Phil Craven, the president of the International Paralympic Committee. They were accompanied by the head of the organizing committee Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki

Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki

Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is a Greek business woman. She is best known for being the president of the bidding and organizing committee for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece...

, who told the athletes and the audience: "The Olympic flame illuminates athletes. Many of you will leave Athens with medals, but all of you will leave as champions." Phil Craven quoted Democritus

Democritus

Democritus was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus, who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos....

in his speech: "Two thousand years ago, Democritus said 'To win oneself is the first and best of all victories.' This holds true for all athletes, but especially for Paralympians. Recognising and cultivating your unique abilities and mastering challenges - you set standards and give expression for many people, young and old, around the world." The Olympic flame

Olympic Flame

The Olympic Flame or Olympic Torch is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The fire was reintroduced at the 1928...

was lit by Greek athlete Georgios Toptsis.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony for the 2004 Summer Paralympics took place on September 28, 2004. The traditional cultural display was removed from the ceremony as a mark of respect for the deaths of 37 teenagers and 4 teachers from Farkadona

Farkadona

Farkadona is a municipality in the southeastern Trikala peripheral unit, part of Thessaly in Greece. Its 2001 population was 2,387 for the town and 15,881 for the municipality. The Larissa peripheral unit is to the east and the Karditsa peripheral unit to the south...

, travelling to Athens

Athens

, whose bus collided with a truck near the town of Kamena Vourla

Kamena Vourla

Kamena Vourla is a town and a former municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Molos-Agios Konstantinos, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. Population 5,064 . It is crossed by the main highway connecting Athens and...

"The Athens Olympics Organising Committee [ATHOC] has decided to cancel the closing ceremony of the 12th Athens Paralympics as initially planned and scheduled because of the tragic accident that cost the life of pupils. The artistic and entertainment part of the ceremony will not take place." (official statement)

Flags were flown at half mast and a minute's silence was observed. In contrast with the formal nature of the opening ceremony, the athletes entered the stadium for the final time as a collective. The flag of the IPC was then officially handed over to the 2008 hosts, Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. An artistic presentation to acknowledge Beijing as the next host was still shown, which also unveiled the IPC's new logo. A procession of young people then made their way to join the athletes in the centre of the stadium carrying paper lantern

Paper lantern

Paper lanterns come in various shapes and sizes, as well as various methods of construction. In their simplest form, they are simply a paper bag with a candle placed inside, although more complicated lanterns consist of a collapsible bamboo or metal frame of hoops covered with tough paper.-In Asian...

s, before the Paralympic flame was extinguished, the final moment of the Paralympic Games.

Media Coverage Controversy

Although the Paralympic Games were broadcast to around 1.6 billion viewers throughout 49 countries, some controversy was caused when no American television network stayed to broadcast the event. This resulted in some US viewers having to wait almost 2 months until the coverage was broadcast, compared with live feeds in the UK and other countries.

Sports featured in the 2004 Summer Paralympics

The 2004 Summer Paralympics included 19 sports. New events featured in the Games were five-a-side blind football, women's sitting volleyball, and quads wheelchair tennis.

Results for individual events can be found on the relevant page.

Archery
Archery at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Archery at the 2004 Summer Paralympics took place at the Olympic Baseball Centre in Athens. There were three categories:*W1 quadriplegic archers, or comparable disability, in wheelchairs*W2 paraplegic archers, or comparable disability, in wheelchairs...
Athletics
Athletics at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Athletics at the 2004 Summer Paralympics included 17 events for men and 15 events for women, in 5 disciplines. Athletes competed in one of four disability categories:*Blind or visually impaired athletes - Sport classes 11 to 13....
Boccia
Boccia at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Boccia at the 2004 Summer Paralympics took place in the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall in Athens. Contestants were categorised as follows:*BC1: players with cerebral palsy, competing with the help of an aide, who can only adjust the playing chair and give a ball to the player.*BC2: players with cerebral...
- see Boccia
  Boccia
  Boccia is a traditional recreational sport, similar to bocce. The name Boccia is derived from the Latin word for boss – bottia. The sport is competed at national and international level, by athletes who require a wheelchair because of physical disability...
  
  for general details of the sport
Cycling
Cycling at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Cycling at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, consisted of 31 events in two disciplines, track cycling and road cycling. Track cycling took place at the Olympic Velodrome, and road cycling at Vouliagmeni.-Classifications and events:...
Equestrian
Equestrian at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Equestrian at the 2004 Summer Paralympics at the Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre was competed in the dressage discipline only. There were four grades of rider disability:...
Football (5-a-side)
5-a-side Football at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
5-a-side Football at the 2004 Summer Paralympics took place at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Athens.Each team had four blind players and one sighted or visually impaired goalkeeper, with five substitutes allowed. Matches were 25 minutes each way. In the semi-finals and final, two ten-minute periods...
Football (7-a-side)
7-a-side Football at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
7-a-side Football at the 2004 Summer Paralympics took place at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Athens. The sport was open to contestants with cerebral palsy. Matches were 30 minutes each way.- Medallists :...
- see Paralympic Football
  Paralympic football
  Paralympic football consists of adaptations of the sport of association football for athletes with a physical disability. These sports are typically played using International Federation of Association Football rules, with modifications to the field of play, equipment, numbers of players, and...
  
  for general details of the sport
Goalball
Goalball at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Goalball at the 2004 Summer Paralympics took place at the Sports Pavilion of the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Sports Complex, in Athens, Greece.Goalball is open to blind and partially sighted competitors, with separate men's and women's competitions.- Men :...
- see Goalball
  Goalball
  Goalball is a team sport designed for blind athletes. It was devised by Hanz Lorenzen , and Sepp Reindle , in 1946 in an effort to help in the rehabilitation of visually impaired World War II veterans...
  
  for general details of the sport
Judo
Judo at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Judo in the 2004 Summer Paralympics was competed by blind or vision-impaired judokas. The only classification was by body weight. The contests were staged in the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall.- Men :-Women:-Medal table:...
- see Paralympic judo
  Paralympic Judo
  Paralympic judo is an adaptation of the Japanese martial art of judo for visually impaired competitors. The rules of the sport are only slightly different from regular judo competitions...
  
  for general details of the sport
Powerlifting
Powerlifting at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Powerlifting at the 2004 Summer Paralympics did not have disability categories. There was a requirement for a minimum level of physical disbility, which may have been caused by amputation, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries or various other specified conditions. The only classification was by...
- see Paralympic powerlifting
  Paralympic powerlifting
  Paralympic powerlifting is an adaptation of the sport of powerlifting for athletes with disabilities. The only discipline in Paralympic powerlifting is the bench press....
  
  for general details of the sport
Sailing
Sailing at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Sailing at the 2004 Summer Paralympics took place at the Agios Kosmas Olympic Sailing Centre from September 18-September 23. The sailors were a mix of physically and visually impaired men and women competing together.The classes sailed were:...
- see Paralympic sailing for general details of the sport
Shooting
Shooting at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Shooting in the 2004 Summer Paralympics consisted of twelve events spread over two main classes:* Class SH 1 - Pistol and rifle competitors who don't require a shooting stand...
- see Paralympic shooting
  Paralympic shooting
  Paralympic shooting is an adaptation of shooting sports for competitors with disabilities. Shooting is a test of accuracy and control, in which competitors use pistols or rifles to fire a series of shots at a stationary target. Competitions are open to all athletes with a physical disability....
  
  for general details of the sport
Swimming
Swimming at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Swimming at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, in the Olympic Aquatic Centre was competed in freestyle, backstroke and butterfly , the breaststroke and individual medley ....
- see Paralympic swimming
  Paralympic swimming
  Paralympic swimming is an adaptation of the sport of swimming for athletes with disabilities. Paralympic swimming is contested not only at the Summer Paralympic Games, but at disabled sports competitions throughout the world...
  
  for general details of the sport
Table Tennis
Table Tennis at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Table Tennis at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was staged at the Galatsi Olympic Hall from September 18 to September 27.Competitors were divided into ten classes according to the extent of their disability, with lower numbered classes corresponding to more severe disabilities...
- see Paralympic table tennis
  Paralympic table tennis
  Paralympic table tennis is a Paralympic sport which follows the rules set by the International Table Tennis Federation with slight modifications for wheelchair athletes. Athletes from all disability groups can take part. Athletes receive classifications between 1-10...
  
  for general details of the sport
Volleyball (Sitting)
Volleyball at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Volleyball at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was staged at the Helliniko Fencing Hall from September 21 to September 27.The sport is performed sitting down. Subject to a minimum degree of physical disability there are no classifications in this sport. There are separate men's and women's...
- see Paralympic volleyball
  Paralympic volleyball
  Volleyball for disabled athletes entered the Paralympic Games as a "demonstration" sport for amputees in 1976 in Toronto Canada. In sitting volleyball, the net is about 3 feet high, and the court is 10 x 6 meters with a 2-meter attack line. Players are allowed to block serves, but one “cheek” must...
  
  for general details of the sport
Wheelchair Basketball
Wheelchair Basketball at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair Basketball at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was staged in the Olympic Indoor Hall from September 18 to September 28.Teams consisted of twelve players, of whom five were on court at any one time. Each player was rated between 0.5 and 4.5 points based on the extent of their disability, with...
- see Paralympic basketball for general details of the sport
Wheelchair Fencing
Wheelchair Fencing at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair Fencing at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was competed in Category A and B. Category A contestants were those with good sitting balance and normal fencing arm, while Category B contestants were somewhat impaired in either of these areas. The events were held at the Helliniko Fencing Hall.-...
- see Paralympic fencing for general details of the sport
Wheelchair Rugby
Wheelchair Rugby at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair Rugby at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was staged at the Helliniko Indoor Arena from September 19 to September 25.Teams from eight countries participated in the competition, with a total of 89 athletes taking part...
- see Wheelchair rugby
  Wheelchair rugby
  Wheelchair rugby, , is a team sport for athletes with a disability. It is currently practiced in over twenty countries around the world and is a Paralympic sport....
  
  for general details of the sport
Wheelchair Tennis
Wheelchair Tennis at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair Tennis at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was staged at the Olympic Tennis Centre from September 19 to September 26.There were singles and doubles competitions for men, women and both . All matches were played to the best of three sets....
- see Wheelchair tennis
  Wheelchair Tennis
  Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for those who have disabilities in their lower bodies. The size of courts, balls, and rackets are same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis; they use specially designed wheelchairs and the ball may bounce up to two times...
  
  for general details of the sport

Participating nations

Athletes from 135 nations competed in the Athens Paralympics.

External links

25 things you never knew about the Paralympics (BBC website). Also links to information about 20 athletes from Team GB.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.