1896 Summer Olympics

1896 brought forth the revival of the modern Olympic Games, by Frenchmen Pierre de Coubertin. Thanks to his efforts, Athens was awarded the first modern Olympic Games. In 1896, the city had an approximate population of 123,000[18] and the event helped boost the city's international profile. Of the venues used for these Olympics, the Kallimarmaro Stadium, and Zappeion were most crucial. It was to be more than 100 years before the city would restage the event.

1906 Summer Olympics

Further information: 1906 Summer Olympics

The 1906 Summer Olympics, or the 1906 Intercalated games, were held very successfully in Athens . The intercalated competitions were intermediate games to the internationally organised olympics, and were meant to be organised in Greece . This idea later lost support from the IOC and these games were not made permanent.

2004 Summer Olympics

Further information: 2004 Summer Olympics

Athens was awarded the 2004 Summer Olympics on September 5, 1997 in Lausanne , Switzerland , after having lost a previous bid to host the 1996 Summer Olympics, to Atlanta , United States.It was to be the second time Athens would have the honour of hosting the games, following the inaugural event of 1896. After 1990's unsuccessful bid, the 1997 bid was radically improved also including an appeal to Greece 's Olympic history. In the last round of voting, Athens defeated Rome with 66 votes to 41.Prior to this round, the cities of Buenos Aires , Stockholm and Cape Town had already been eliminated from competition, having received fewer votes.

During the first three years of preparations, the International Olympic Committee had repeatedly expressed some concern over the speed of construction progresss for some of the new Olympic venues. In 2000 the Organising Committee's president was replaced by Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, who was the president of the original Bidding Committee in 1997. From that point on, preparations continued at a highly accelerated, almost frenzied pace. Although the heavy cost was criticized, estimated at $1.5 billion, as is usually the case with most Olympic cities, Athens was literally transformed into a more functional city that enjoys state-of-the-art technology both in transportation and in modern urban development.Some of the finest sporting venues in the world were created in the city, all of which were fully ready for the games. The games welcomed over 10,000 athletes from all 202 countries.The 2004 Games were judged a huge success, as both security and organization were exceptionally good, and only a few visitors reported minor problems mainly concerning accommodation issues.

The 2004 Olympic Games were described as Unforgettable, dream Games, by IOC President Jacques Rogge for their return to the birthplace of the Olympics, and for superbly meeting the challenges of holding the Olympic Games.The only observable problem was a somewhat sparse attendance of some early events. Eventually, however, a total of more than 3.5 million tickets were sold, which was higher than any other Olympics with the exception of Sydney (more than 5 million tickets were sold there in 2000).