18 Days in August, an Olympic Blog

An open letter to the Greek people from Dick Ebersol Chairman of NBC

Now that the spotlights are switched off and the Games are over, we are all left with a sweet hangover for what we experienced here in August and September. Everything was exceptional, I am so glad I was a tiny part of the Greatest show on Earth!
I have made a short list of Athens Olympic firsts, I will share it with you, they are listed with no particular order:

• Most money spent on security (although this will be broken on the next Olympics)
• Most countries participating
• Most women athletes participating
• First time a DJ was used in the parade of the athletes during the Opening Ceremony (DJ Tiesto)
• More hours of TV coverage with the best ratings for Olympic Games
• First time that stamps with Olympic medalists were on sale on the day after the corresponding medal ceremony, well done ELTA! (Greek postal service)
• Spectators went to all the Olympic sites exclusively by public transport since access by private cars was not allowed in a large area around each venue
• A truly amazing Opening Ceremony, that managed to receive the unanimous praise of the World
  
• For the first time the Olympic flame traveled to all 5 continents, even to places that it has not been before (i.e. South Africa, India and Brazil), reaching a total of 260 million people
  
• First time that the website of the Games was truly tri-lingual (Greek, English, French)
• First time that online and offline branding of materials related with the Games was in synch