Athens Olympics Sports Complex

Athletes and sports fans from all over the world will soon focus their attention on Athens, Greece—host city for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. This high-resolution image shows the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, where this year's games will be played. Acquired on June 24, 2004, by Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite, the scene shows the complex in stunning detail, including the Olympic Stadium (home of the opening and closing ceremonies), the Olympic Aquatic Center, Olympic Indoor Hall (gymnastics and basketball finals), Olympic Tennis Center, and the Olympic Velodrome (cycling). Greece is the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Historians trace the origins of the Olympics back to 776 B.C., when ancient Greeks staged sporting events—part religious ceremony and part athletic contests in honor of the gods of Greek mythology—on the plains of Olympia.