Whatever image was published or broadcasted around the world from the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games revealed a miracle. In the conception, execution, and inspired management of both form and content. The ceremony, created by Dimitris Papaioannou, marked a turning point in Olympic history. “A composition of high art, historical retrospection, and an approach to modern life, in a simple and impressive way, a celebration that showcased Greece to the ends of the earth,” we wrote the next day (“K”, 14/8/2004), sending the message of a country that stands firmly in the, moving, present, integrating the past. It does not live in the shadow, but in the light of its history and past.
Dozens of volunteers, along with 600 people of various specialties, worked together for the design, production, and execution of the opening and closing ceremonies. The state was also closely involved, with a coordinated and effective governmental machine.
The 2004 Olympics, their overall organization, was a defining moment in the Greek Metapolitefsi. And then the lights of the stage went out, and the spotlights of the backstage were turned on. From deification to deconstruction. Not of the ceremonies, of course. They will always serve as a model and a reference point, inspiring and uniting. The focus shifted to the cost. The Olympics bore the brunt of the subsequent economic collapse of the country. What does it matter that the The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 shows the Athens Olympics as the Games with the lowest total cost ($2.94 billion), less than those of Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Beijing, London, and Rio. However, “2004” had already been demonized. PASOK had renounced it, New Democracy denounced the “great waste of €15-20 billion,” and SYRIZA considered it merely a source of scandals and decline.
Twenty years later, where does reality stand? The story of the Olympic facilities remains an open wound. Some have not ceased to operate, others have been looted and ended up, abandoned, rotting, while some were granted to either private individuals or clubs. The question of why they were made permanent and not temporary constructions remains unanswered. It is certain, however, that the next day for the buildings and facilities was not anticipated.
Athens did not become Barcelona; it did not transform, as the Spanish city did, with the Olympics. However, it proved, primarily to itself, that it can be a beautiful city, not because of its past, but because of its present, hospitable because it is clean, organized, disciplined but also euphoric, rich due to its human resources and its thousands of volunteers. Greece was internationally evaluated as capable of offering the spectacle of grandiosity with measure, rhythm, and harmony. To combine Democracy with Art by utilizing technology. It was a celebration, it was a flight. Twenty years have passed since then…