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2004 SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• The 2004 Summer Olympic Games was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. 10.625 athletes competed, accompanied by 5500 team officials from 201 countries. There were 301 medal events in 28 different sports. Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. It was also the first time since 1896 that the Olympics held in Greece.

• Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997. Rome, Cape Town, Stockholm and Buenos Aires were the other countries Athens defeated in all voting rounds.

• The Athens Games had two mascots: Athena and Phevos. The sister and brother were named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom, strategy and war, and Phoebus, the god of light and music. They were inspired by the ancient daidala, which were dolls that had religious connotations as well as being toys.

• The lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame took place on 25 March 2004 in Ancient Olympia. For the first time ever, the flame travelled around the world in a relay to former, next and later Olympic cities and other large cities, before returning to Greece.

• The opening ceremony held in 13 August 2004. It began with a 28 second countdown paced by the sounds of an amplified heartbeat; one second for each country which has organized the Olympic Games with the latest to be for Greece. It is well-known as the best opening ceremony of Olympic Games that has ever been until today.

• The closing ceremony was also amazing. With an extraordinary performance by Chinese dancers and a music program with Greek songs and famous Greek singers, Athens closed the 28th Olympic Games.

• Information taken by; el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Θερινοί_Ολυμπιακοί_Αγώνες_2004

THE FIFA EUROBASKET 2005

• The FIBA EuroBasket 2005 (the 34th edition of FIBA's European Basketball Championship) was held in Serbia and Montenegro between 16 September and 25 September 2005. Greece won the gold medal by defeating Germany, while France won the bronze medal over Spain. Germany's DirkNowitzki was named the tournament MVP.The EuroBasket is a biennial basketball competition between national teams organized by FIBAEurope, the sport's governing body in Europe. This was the third time that the championship was hosted by the city of Belgrade (previous times were in 1961 and 1975).The top ten scorers were:

• Dirk Nowitzki (GER) - 26.1 ppg • Juan Carlos Navarro (ESP) - 25.2 ppg • Andrei Kirilenko (RUS) - 17.5 ppg • Igor Rakocevic (SCG) - 16.3 ppg • Gordan Giricek (CRO) - 15.7 ppg • Jorge Garbajosa (ESP) - 14.5 ppg • Ramunas Siskauskas (LTU) - 14.0 ppg • Boris Diaw (FRA) - 13.7 ppg • Jaka Lakovic (SLO) - 12.8 ppg • J.R.Holden (RUS) - 12.5 ppg

• Spain scored a total of 522 points, with 87 points per game, even though they were only eighth in the field goal percentage, which was 42.7% in their six games at the tournament. Although their quarter-final match against Croatia, in which they scored 102 points, spanned many controversies. (In Serbian and Croatian)

• Lithuania led in two-pointers per game at 55.0%, followed by Serbia and Montenegro at 53.6%. With three-point field goals made per game, Croatia and Israel were tied at the top with 39.5%, although they were closely followed by Lithuania at 38.8%.

• Of the top ten games with the most free throws made, Spain held the first, second, third, seventh and eighth place, averaging 31.3 free throws per game. In their game against Latvia, they made 51 out of a total of 63 attempted free throws; a distant second was the 38 free throws they made out of 49 attempts against Croatia. Their free throw percentage was 76.7%, just behind the leading Germany with 77.9%.

• The teams with the most rebounds per game were France, Russia and Slovenia. France played the two games with the most offensive rebounds, although the latter two offset it in the defensive rebound percentages.

• Lithuania and Israel led in both steals and assists, although Turkey snatched the title of the team with the most steals per game.

• The Croatia v. Turkey group-stage game (which ended with the score 80-67) was the game with the most turnovers for both teams, 27 each. In the same game, Croatia at one point had a 32-0 scoring streak that lasted over ten minutes.

• FINAL STANDINGS• 1.GREECE• 2.GERMANY• 3.FRANCE• 4.SPAIN• 5.LITHUANIA• 6.SLOVENIA• 7.CROATIA• 8.RUSSIA• 9.TURKEY• 9.ITALY• 9.ISRAEL• 9.SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO• 13.UKRAINE• 13.BULGARIA• 13.BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA• 13.LATVIA

BEST ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

• Germany's Dirk Nowitzki claimed the Most Valuable Player award at the 2005 EuroBasket and topped the competition's All-Tournament team.

• Nowitzki won the honour - voted by international media representatives at Belgrade Arena - for leading Germany to Sunday's final against Greece. The Dallas Mavericks star went into the final as the tournament's leading scorer (26.7 ppg) and second-leading rebounder (10.8 rpg) and shot blocker (1.8 blpg).Nowitzki carried his team, twice hitting shots in the final seconds to will Germany into the final and guaranteeing them their second EuroBasket medal following their gold medal at the 1993 championships in Munich.Nowitzki was also voted by the media as the top power forward of the tournament.He was joined on the All-Tournament team by Greek guards Theodoros Papaloukas (9.6 ppg and 2.4 rpg) and Dimitrios Diamantidis, who led the tournament in assists (5.0 per game) had 5.1 rebounds and 5.4 points a game. Diamantidis also hit a three-pointer in the waning seconds against France to move the Greeks into the final.France's Boris Diaw was picked as the top small forward for his all around game (13.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.3 blpg) in leading the French to the bronze medal.Spain's Juan Carlos Navarro was selected as the top shooting guard, averaging 25.2 points and 1.2 steals as well as hitting 69-79 (87.3 per cent) free throws for the fourth-placed Iberians.

• SOURCES:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_EuroBasket_2005

• http://www.fibaeurope.com/cid_KNce8jInH7Qj1EsyH5rjn2.season_2005.compID_qMRZdYCZI6EoANOrUf9le2.html