Sweden at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Sweden at the
2004 Summer Olympics
IOC codeSWE
NOCSwedish Olympic Committee
Websitewww.sok.se (in Swedish and English)
in Athens
Competitors115 in 20 sports
Flag bearer Lars Frölander[1]
Medals
Ranked 19th
Gold
4
Silver
2
Bronze
1
Total
7
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games

Sweden competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This nation has competed at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except for the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. The Swedish Olympic Committee (Swedish: Sveriges Olympiska Kommitté, SOK) sent the nation's smallest team to the Games since the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. A total of 115 athletes, 62 men and 53 women, competed only in 20 different sports. Women's football was the only team-based sport in which Sweden had its representation at these Games. There was only a single competitor in boxing, diving, artistic gymnastics, judo, modern pentathlon, and rowing.

The Swedish team featured four prominent Olympic medalists: rifle prone shooter Jonas Edman, double trap shooter Pia Hansen, and swimmers Therese Alshammar and defending Olympic champion Lars Frölander, who later became the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.[1][2] Table tennis players Jörgen Persson and 1992 Olympic champion Jan-Ove Waldner were among the Swedish athletes to compete in fifth Olympics, since the sport had been formally included into the Olympic program in 1988. Notable Swedish athletes also included sprint kayak pair Henrik Nilsson and Markus Oscarsson, Greco-Roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian, who emigrated from his native Armenia to compete for the Swedish team, and tennis player Robin Söderling, the youngest male athlete of the team.

Sweden left Athens with a total of seven Olympic medals, four golds, two silver, and one bronze, matching its gold medal tally with Munich (1972), Montreal (1976), and Sydney (2000).[3] Three individual Swedish athletes had won Olympic gold medals in athletics: Stefan Holm in men's high jump,[4] Christian Olsson in men's triple jump,[5] and Carolina Klüft in women's heptathlon.[6] Meanwhile, sprint kayak pair Nilsson and Oscarsson picked up their first Olympic title in men's K-2 1000 metres, following their silver medal triumph in Sydney four years earlier.[7]

  1. ^ a b "Frölander blir svensk fanbärare" [Frölander becomes Swedish flag bearer] (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. 12 August 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Lars Frölander gör sitt sista OS i Aten" [Lars Frölander makes his last Olympics in Athens] (in Swedish). Kristianstadsbladet. 13 August 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  3. ^ "2004 Athens: Medal Tally". USA Today. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  4. ^ "Guld till Holm efter rysare" [Gold to Holm after thriller] (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. 22 August 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Olsson leaps to Athens gold". BBC Sport. 22 August 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  6. ^ "Secrets of Swedish Success". IAAF. 26 August 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  7. ^ "British paddlers miss out". BBC Sport. 27 August 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2014.