Olympics 2004 in Athens

On the 5th of September 1997, Athens was selected to be the city which will host the 2004 Olympics, the first Olympic Games of the new millennium. After so many years, the Olympic Games return to their home country. After the first modern Olympics of 1896, which were held in Athens, it is the first time that our city will host this world famous sporting event.

Athens was selected between the cities of Rome, Buenos Aires, Stockholm and Cape Town. At the final vote of the International Olympic Committee, Athens won over Rome, with 66 versus 41 votes.

Tomorrow Athens will start preparing for the 2004 Olympics and will, by then, be ready to welcome the world athletes and offer the world a special kind of games, different from what we have all seen the last few years.

Let's also hope that by that time, shooting will still exist as a sport, which is doubtful, with the way guns are treated by more and more governments on this earth.

Our thanks are going to all those people who spend their precious time and effort, in order for Greece to reach this goal. Special thanks are due to the members of the Bid Committee, whose work was really excellent and was the main reason why Greece managed to be selected as the hosting city.