The Olympic Stadium (also known as the Athens Olympic Stadium, and Spiridon "Spiros" Louis Stadium, after the first man to win a marathon race) is a stadium that is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. It hosted the athletics events and the soccer final at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. It also hosted the Opening Ceremonies on August 13, 2004, and was the site of the Closing Ceremonies on August 29, 2004. The stadium, which normally seats almost 75,000, was configured to seat 72,000 during the Olympics, though only 56,700 seats were made publicly available for the track and field events and slightly more for the soccer final.

The Olympic Stadium in its initial form.

Post-renovation Olympic Stadium (exterior).

Post-renovation Olympic Stadium (interior).

The stadium was originally completed in 1982. It hosted the 1997 World Championships in Track and Field, sought in order to prove that it was capable of hosting major sporting events after the failure of Athens to win the 1996 Summer Olympics. The stadium was heavily renovated in time for the Olympics, including a controversial roof designed by Santiago Calatrava that was added atop the sidelines in order to shade fans from the fierce Athens heat. The roof was barely completed in time for the opening of the games, and the stadium was then officially re-opened on July 30, 2004.

The stadium will host the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2007.

See also

Athens Olympic Sports Complex

Olympic Stadia

Athens, 1896 | Paris, 1900 | St Louis, 1904 | London, 1908 | Stockholm, 1912 | Berlin, 1916 | Antwerp, 1920 | Paris, 1924 | Amsterdam, 1928 | Los Angeles, 1932 | Berlin, 1936 | Helsinki, 1940 | London, 1944 | London, 1948 | Helsinki, 1952 | Melbourne, 1956 | Rome, 1960 | Tokyo, 1964 | Mexico City, 1968 | Munich, 1972 | Montreal, 1976 | Moscow, 1980 | Los Angeles, 1984 | Seoul, 1988 | Barcelona, 1992 | Atlanta, 1996 | Sydney, 2000 | Athens, 2004 | Beijing, 2008 | London, 2012