The athletics events at the Athens 2004 Olympics Games carried a unique historical and symbolic significance, as the Olympic Games returned to their birthplace. Competitions were primarily held at the Athens Olympic Stadium, while select events connected directly with ancient tradition. The men’s and women’s shot put took place at the Ancient Olympia Stadium, linking modern competition with the origins of the Games. Meanwhile, the marathon followed the historic route from Marathon to the Panathenaic Stadium, echoing the revival of the Olympics in 1896.
The atmosphere throughout the Games was defined by strong public enthusiasm and global attention, as elite performances produced a series of Olympic and world-class marks across the programme. At the same time, the athletics competition unfolded during a period of increased scrutiny in the sport, with anti-doping developments shaping the wider context of the Games. Within this setting, Athens 2004 delivered a memorable blend of history, performance, and legacy.
Athens 2004 delivered a series of exceptional performances across the athletics programme, with two world records and numerous Olympic records underlining the high competitive standard of the Games. Among the standout moments was Yelena Isinbayeva, who set a new world record of 4.91m in the women’s pole vault, confirming her dominance on the global stage. In the men’s 110m hurdles, Liu Xiang equalled the world record of 12.91 seconds, achieving one of the most significant milestones in sprint hurdling history.
Long-distance events also reached remarkable levels, highlighted by Kenenisa Bekele, whose Olympic record of 26:20.31 in the men’s 10,000 metres reflected a performance of exceptional control and endurance. Across both track and field, the Games demonstrated a balance between established champions and emerging global talents.
For the host nation, one of the most memorable moments came through Athanasia Tsoumeleka, whose victory in the women’s 20km race walk resonated far beyond the result itself. Celebrated by the home crowd, her performance became one of the defining emotional highlights of Athens 2004 and remains a landmark achievement in Greek Olympic history.
Another unforgettable moment for the host nation came through Fani Halkia, who set an Olympic record of 52.77 seconds in the semi-finals of the women’s 400m hurdles before securing gold in the final. On both occasions, the stadium erupted in one of the most electrifying atmospheres of the Games.
Johnson Kubisa 46.2, California Molefe 45.0, Gaolisela Salang 46.37, Kagiso Kilego 44.93 [Oganeditse Moseki 46.93]
Men’s 20 kilometers race walking – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Ivano Brugnetti
ITA
1:19:40
2
Francis Javier Fernández
ESP
1:19:45
3
Nathan Deakes
AUS
1:20:02
4
Jefferson Pérez
ECU
1:20:38
5
Juan Manuel Molina
ESP
1:20:55
6
Zhu Hongjun
CHN
1:21:40
7
Vladimir Andreyev
RUS
1:21:53
8
Andreas Höhne
GER
1:21:56
Men’s 50 kilometers race walking – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Robert Korzeniowski
POL
3:38:46
2
Denis Nizhegorodov
RUS
3:42:50
3
Aleksey Voyevodin
RUS
3:43:34
4
Yu Chaohong
CHN
3:43:45
5
Jesús Ángel García
ESP
3:44:42
6
Roman Magdziarczyk
POL
3:48:11
7
Grzegorz Sudoł
POL
3:49:09
8
Santiago Pérez
ESP
3:49:48
Men’s High Jump Final – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Stefan Holm
SWE
2.36
2
Matt Hemingway
USA
2.34
3
Jaroslav Bába
CZE
2.34
4
Jamie Nieto
USA
2.34
5
Andriy Sokolovskiy
UKR
2.32
6
Yaroslav Rybakov
RUS
2.32
7
Mark Boswell
CAN
2.29
8
Svatoslav Ton
CZE
2.29
Men’s Pole Vault Final – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Tim Mack
USA
5.95 OR
2
Toby Stevenson
USA
5.90
3
Giuseppe Gibilisco
ITA
5.85
4
Igor Pavlov
RUS
5.80
5
Danny Ecker
GER
5.75
6
Lars Börgeling
GER
5.75
7
Derek Miles
USA
5.75
8
Alex Averbukh
ISR
5.65
Men’s Long Jump Final – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Dwight Phillips
USA
8.59
2
John Moffitt
USA
8.47
3
Joan Lino Martinez
ESP
8.32
4
James Beckford
JAM
8.31
5
Chris Tomlinson
GBR
8.25
6
Ignasious Gaisah
GHA
8.24
7
Iván Pedroso
CUB
8.23
8
Bogdan Ţăruş
ROU
8.21
Men’s Triple Jump Final – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Christian Olsson
SWE
17.79
2
Marian Oprea
ROU
17.55
3
Danila Burkenya
RUS
17.48
4
Yoandri Betanzos
CUB
17.47
5
Jadel Gregório
BRA
17.31
6
Hrístos Melétoglou
GRE
17.13
7
Viktor Gushchinskiy
RUS
17.11
8
Yoelbi Quesada
CUB
16.96
Men’s Shot Put Final¹ – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Adam Nelson
USA
21.16
2
Joachim B. Olsen
DEN
21.07
3
Manuel Martínez
ESP
20.84
4
Andrey Mikhnevich
BLR
20.60
5
Yuriy Belov
BLR
20.34
6
Justin Anlezark
AUS
20.31
7
Ralf Bartels
GER
20.26
8
John Godina
USA
20.19
¹ Note: Yurie Belonog (UKR), originally winner of the event , was later stripped of the medal following a doping violation. The final results shown reflect the official reallocation of medals.
Men’s Discus Throw Final² – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Virgilijus Alekna
LTU
69.89 OR
2
Zoltán Kővágó
HUN
67.04
3
Aleksander Tammert
EST
66.66
4
Vasiliy Kaptyukh
BLR
65.10
5
Frantz Kruger
RSA
64.34
6
Casey Malone
USA
64.33
7
Lars Riedel
GER
62.80
8
Hannes Hopley
RSA
62.58
² Note: Rober Fazekas (HUN), originally winner of the event , was later stripped of the medal following a doping violation. The final results shown reflect the official reallocation of medals.
Men’s Hammer Throw³ – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Koji Murofushi
JPN
82.91
2
Eşref Apak
TUR
79.51
3
Vadim Devyatovskiy
BLR
78.82
4
Krisztián Pars
HUN
78.73
5
Primož Kozmus
SLO
78.56
6
Libor Charfreitag
SVK
77.54
7
Karsten Kobs
GER
76.30
8
Igor Astapkovich
BLR
76.22
³ Note: Adrián Annus(HUN) and Ivan Tikhon (BLR) originally gold and bronze medallists of the event , were later stripped of the medals following a doping violation. The final results shown reflect the official reallocation of medals.
⁵ Note: Despite the disqualification of Cox, the IOC decided in June 2013 not to disqualify the US team which went on to win gold in the 4x400m final.
Women’s Marathon – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Mizuki Noguchi
JPN
2:26:20
2
Catherine Ndereba
KEN
2:26:32
3
Deena Kastor
USA
2:27:20
4
Elfenesh Alemu
ETH
2:28:15
5
Reiko Tosa
JPN
2:28:44
6
Olivera Jevtić
SRB/SCG
2:31:15
7
Naoko Sakamoto
JPN
2:31:43
8
Lyudmila Petrova
RUS
2:31:56
Women’s 20 Kilometers Race Walking – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Athansía Tsoumeléka
GRE
1:29:12
2
Olimpiada Ivanova
RUS
1:29:16
3
Jane Saville
AUS
1:29:25
4
Margarita Turova
BLR
1:29:39
5
Melanie Seeger
GER
1:29:52
6
Elisa Rigaudo
ITA
1:29:57
7
Mariá Vasco
ESP
1:30:06
8
Wang Liping
CHN
1:30:16
Women’s High Jump Final – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Yelena Slesarenko
RUS
2.06 OR
2
Hestrie Cloete
RSA
2.02
3
Viktoriya Styopina
UKR
2.02
4
Amy Acuff
USA
1.99
5
Irina Mikhalchenko
UKR
1.96
6
Anna Chicherova
RUS
1.96
7
Oana Pantelimon
ROU
1.93
8
Monica Iagăr
ROU
1.93
Women’s Pole Vault Final – Athens 2008
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Yelena Isinbaeva
RUS
4.91 WR
2
Svetlana Feofanova
RUS
4.75
3
Anna Rogowska
POL
4.70
4
Monika Pyrek
POL
4.55
5
Thorey Elisdóttir
ISL
4.55
6
Vanessa Boslak
FRA
4.40
6
Naroa Agirre
ESP
4.40
6
Dana Ellis
CAN
4.40
6
Anzhela Balakhanova
UKR
4.40
Women’s Long Jump Final – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Tatyana Lebedeva
RUS
7.07
2
Irina Simagina
RUS
7.05
3
Tatyana Kotova
RUS
7.05
4
Bronwyn Thompson
AUS
6.96
5
Anju Bobby George
IND
6.83
6
Jade Johnson
GBR
6.80
7
Tünde Vaszi
HUN
6.73 w
8
Bianca Kappler
GER
6.66
Women’s Triple Jump Final – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Françoise Mbango
CMR
15.30
2
Hrysopiyí Devetzi
GRE
15.25
3
Tatyana Lebedeva
RUS
15.14
4
Trecia Smith
JAM
15.02
5
Yamilé Aldama
SUD
14.99
6
Baya Rahouli
ALG
14.86
7
Magdelin Martinez
ITA
14.85
8
Anna Pyatykh
RUS
14.79
Women’s Shot Put Final⁶ – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Yumileidi Cumbá
CUB
19,59
2
Nadine Kleinert
GER
19,55
3
Nadezhda Ostapchuk
BLR
19,01
4
Natalya Khoronenko
BLR
18,96
5
Krystyna Zabawaska
POL
18,64
6
Misleydis Gonzalez
CUB
18,59
7
Valerie Adams
NZL
18,56
8
Li Meiju
CHN
18,37
⁶ Note: Russia’s Irina Korzhanenko, originally winner of the event, was stripped of the gold medal following doping violations. Her compatriot Svetlana Krivelyova, originally placed 4th, also diqualified. The final results shown reflect the official reallocation of medals.
Women’s Discus Throw⁷ – Athens 2004
Place
Athlete
Country
Mark
Notes
1
Natalya Sadova
RUS
67.02
2
Anastasía Kelesídou
GRE
66.68
3
Věra Cechlová
CZE
66.08
4
Yelena Antonova
UKR
65.75
5
Nicoleta Grasu
ROU
64.92
6
Beatrice Faumuiná
NZL
63.45
7
Katerína Vóggoli
GRE
62.37
8
Li Yangfeng
CHN
61.05
⁷ Note: Ukraine’s Irina Yatchenko, originally bronze medallist of the event, was stripped of the medal following doping violations. The final results shown reflect the official reallocation of medals.
World Athletics, Tokyo 2020 Statistics Handbook. Produced in Collaboration with ATFS, edited by Mark Butller
World Athletics, IAAF Statistics Handbook (Special Edition), Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Rio 2016. Produced in Collaboration with ATFS, edited by Mark Butller