The Olympics returned to its spiritual home of Athens in 2004 and despite initial fears they wouldn't be ready in time, the Greeks put on a terrific 17-day spectacle to rival the Games of Sydney.
A record 201 nations participated with more athletes, more female competitors and more events than ever before, while the global television audience of around 3.9billion scaled new heights.
Kelly Holmes was the heroine for Britain with an unprecedented golden double. Despite suffering an injury-hit build-up, she started as one of the favourites for the 800metres and ran a well-paced race to nick it on the line and just five days later she produced an equally-dramatic victory in the 1500m.
In doing so Holmes became only the third female in Olympic history to win such a double and at the age of 34 was the oldest athlete to claim gold in either event.
On the same night at Holmes' 1500m glory, Britain's 4x100m quartet of Darren Campbell, Jason Gardner, Mark Lewis-Francis and Marlon Devonish put their individual disappointments behind them to produce the performance of their lives to shock the highly-fancied Americans and snatch an unexpected dramatic gold.
Also on the track, arguably the greatest middle-distance runner of all time, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, also fulfilled his destiny at long last by claiming his first Olympic gold medals in the 1500m and 5000m.
In rowing, Matthew Pinsent just about succeeded in his bid for a fourth consecutive gold medal alongside his coxless four team-mates of James Cracknell, Ed Coode and Steve Williams as they edged out the Canadian boat by the narrowest of margins in a nerve-jangling finish.
At sea, Britain were the most successful nation in sailing having won two golds, a silver and two bronze, while in the velodrome Bradley Wiggins was the star of the show with three cycling medals including one gold in the individual pursuit.
The lightweight boxing tournament saw the emergence of Bolton's Amir Khan who, at the age of 17, won a silver medal to put him on the path towards a sparkling professional career.
Overall the USA were once again the most successful nation with a medal haul of 102, including 36 gold, and their headline performer of the Games was undoubtedly the awesome Michael Phelps.
The swimming sensation won eight medals, six of which gold, to tie gymnast Alexander Dityatin's record set in 1980.It could have been so much better for Phelps but he was denied equalling Mark Spitz's record of seven golds when Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband beat him in the 200m freestyle, a race regarded as one of the best of all-time.
China continued their growth in sporting stature ahead of their own Games in 2008 by finishing just three gold medals behind the Americans and their moment to remember was poster boy Liu Xiang's triumph in the 110m hurdles.
Due to its links of 1896, the men's and women's marathons were inevitably hyped and the honours belonged to Stefano Baldini of Italy and Japan's Mizuki Noguchi, who both crossed the line in the historic Panathinaiko Stadium for victory.
British memories will be of Paula Radcliffe's tears by the roadside after she quit the race in the closing stages.British gold medals: 9
