To provide a stage for the opening performances, the floor of the stadium was turned into a giant spiral wheatfield, and the program began with traditional Greek music and dances.
Five Greek singers serenaded the theme of the ceremony: "Welcome my friends, my dear friends please join us at our table for a big feast." Dancers dressed in traditional costume representing the farmers, fishermen and artisans of old Greece harvested a field of wheat.
Fire dancers followed the dances of the islands, each dance accompanied by a Greek singer of renown: Haris Alexiou, Dimitra Galani, Mannella, George Dalaras and Yiannis Parios.
The spectacle continued with a bazouki orchestra providing accompaniment for traditional-style dances from Crete and Pondos.
And then we had ‘Zorba’! If any tune has been the theme of these Games it has of course been this internationally known tune, Mikis Theodorakis' Academy Award winning score from the film ‘Zorba the Greek’. It has been played endlessly at the Olympic stadiums over these 16 days and here it had its final rendition for the Games.
The marathon medals were then presented to Stefano Baldino of Italy, who won the gold; silver-medal winner Meb Keflezighi of the U.S.; and Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil, who won the bronze. De Lima had lead the marathon with about three miles to go when he was pushed off the course by an intruder. He was able to resume the race but eventually lost his lead.
Following the medal ceremony, a flag-bearer from each nation then entered along the stage, followed by the competitors en masse on the floor. The national teams of athletes, many of whom were snapping photos and filming the proceedings with their video cameras, poured onto the stadium floor to join the festivities as the spectators in the stands began doing 'The Mexican Wave'. Kelly Holmes, double gold-medal-winning athlete carried the union flag into the stadium.
Unlike during the Opening Ceremony, there is no formal procession during the Closing Ceremony, and the athletes just ran onto the field.
After a short speech by Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki (the Games organising President), International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge took the podium to declare the end of the Athens Games. He told the Greek people, "You have won. You have won by brilliantly meeting the tough challenge of holding the games. These were unforgettable, dream games."
Rogge also said that the Athens Olympics were the Games when it became increasingly more difficult for athletes to cheat and "where clean athletes were protected".
The Olympic flag was then officially passed from the mayor of Athens to the mayor of Beijing, host city of the 2008 Summer Games, and performances of Chinese music and dance began.
The costumes of the 270 Chinese dancers and acrobats in the ceremony were created by the costume designer for the worldwide-hit martial arts film 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'.
Among the performers were 28 young monks from the Shaolin temple in central China, the country’s most famous training center for kung fu.
Following the performances, the Olympic flame that had burned high above the stadium throughout the Games was lowered so that it could symbolically light lanterns carried by children, and one child symbolically extinguished the flame with a puff of air in its direction.
An all-star lineup of Greek pop icons then took the stage as the dancing and celebrations continued throughout the stadium until the ceremony's conclusion.
The local performers had Olympic Stadium rocking with classic songs and new hits amid glittering fireworks, clouds of confetti and balloons.
Anna Vissi 'Greece’s own Madonna' sang her famous song ‘Eisai’ (‘You Are’), and its disco rhythms had volunteers and even a few journalists dancing in the aisles.
Alkistis Protopsalti got the crowd swaying and singing along to the title song from the 1960 film 'Never on Sunday', by Greek composer Manos Hadjikdais.
Also sharing a rectangular, rotating stage were veterans Dionyssis Savvopoulos and Eleftheria Arvanitaki, along with newer stars Michalis Chatzigiannis and Adonis Remos.
But the loudest cheers and applause were for up-and-coming pop star Sakis Rouvis, who descended from the sky on cables in an all-white jumpsuit that made him look like Elvis' the young, thin one.