Thousands gather to witness opening ceremony

(14 Aug 2004)

Athens Olympic Stadium - 13 August 2004
1. Zoom in on a ceremony of Olympic cauldron being lit up
2. Various shots of fireworks
3. Olympic cauldron alight
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Voxpop, Swiss fan:
"I enjoyed it very much and it was very emotional for me because I am Greek but living and working in Switzerland. So, it was there for me and I enjoyed it a lot."
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Voxpop, US fan:
"Just bringing back everything for all the history, all the statues coming to life. The Olympic rings on fire in the water. It was just unbelievable. They brought in all the different Olympics to this Olympics."
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Voxpop, Russian fan:
"Yes, sure it was fantastic, it was perfect. It was like a miracle for us. It was our first time at an Olympics games opening ceremony and we came especially to see this miracle."
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Voxpop, Canadian fan:
"Overall, they did a dynamite job. The story of the mythology was awesome."
8. SOUNDBITE (Swedish) Voxpop, Swedish fan (translation unavailable)
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Voxpop, US fan:
"One of the best nights ever. We came all the way from America. I brought my Greek wife back to Greece. Her mother is from Olympia, where the Olympics began. We have been to Olympia, it's a beautiful place. In Athens, the flame has come back home - how wonderful. All the countries united in peace, love and harmony, let the games begin. What a wonderful way to start our vacation. We can't believe it, it's just wonderful."

Olympic Media Centre, 14 August 2004
10. Wide shot of media conference
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, President of Athens Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (ATHOC):
"So, now its official - the games are back in Greece. Greece is sharing the magic of this homecoming with the world. Now, we have shared out culture and history with more than four-billion people around the globe. We have given the athletes a remarkable start for their Athens Olympic games."
12. Cutaway
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dimitris Papaioannou, Concept creator of the opening and closing ceremonies:
"It is because we consider that all art that was created in this land, art that is a messenger of history, art that was created truly from love. This is the only way that we approached our history in order to design a concept, an emotional journey for this ceremony for this ceremony. Thank you."
14. Wide shot of media conference

STORYLINE:

The Athens Olympics are now well underway following Friday's lavish opening ceremony and the start of competition on Saturday.

The first fans made their way through the turnstiles early, many of them heading straight for the Aquatic Centre, where the action in the swimming pool got underway early in the day.

Rowing is also drawing the crowds, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie Blair.

Meanwhile, the first gold medal has already been presented, to Li Du of China who won the women's 10-metre air rifle competition.

Du fired a new Olympic record score of 502.0 from her 10 shots in the final of the competition, held at the Markopoulo shooting centre.

Last night the Olympic Stadium hosted the opening ceremony in front of 72-thousand spectators and an estimated global audience of four billion people.

Greek President Konstandinos Stefanopoulos declared the Games open after a spectacular theatrical celebration and the biggest parade of nations in they history of the Games.


Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...