The Olympic Games meant that all eyes in 2004 were turned to Greece.
Athens gave the whole world some magnificent Olympic Games,
quite unforgettable and full of exciting highlights such as the shot put
at Olympia, birthplace of the first Olympic Games;
or the finish of the women’s and men’s marathon in the amazing
marble Panathinaikon Stadium at the foot of the Acropolis, which was home to the first Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896.


For Swiss Timing too the stakes were high, and the volume of work substantial. In addition to its timekeeping, scoring and display services, Swiss Timing was for the first time responsible for on-site information processing.
This important task can be illustrated with a few figures: a team of 7 people permanently located in Athens since 2002, a team of 306 people of 23 nationalities equating to 8453 man-days, during the Games themselves, and 85 people, representing 1729 man-days during the Paralympics. This on top of the pre-Olympic tests that took place on site between August 2003 and June 2004, representing a total of 6200 man-days.

However, this global sporting event which benefited the Swatch brand did not eclipse Swiss Timing’s many other operational activities, in which its technicians were involved around the world and around the clock.

Longines, the faithful ambassador of Elegance, continued to enjoy its privileged relationships with gymnastics and equestrianism. In artistic gymnastics, it was involved in the European Championships in Amsterdam and Ljubljana and the World Cup final in Birmingham; in rhythmic gymnastics, it was present at the European Championships in Kiev and the World Cup final in Moscow. Swiss Timing provided services for the World Aerobics Championships in Sofia, and also for the final of the Trampolining World Cup in Algiers. In equestrianism, the prestigious international competitions in Rome, Cannes, Vienna, Lucerne, Barcelona and Hickstead acted as an ideal and very exclusive backdrop against which to award the Longines Prize for Elegance.

For Omega, Swiss Timing handled most of the major international athletics meetings in Switzerland (Lausanne and Zurich), Qatar, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Stockholm and Oslo, not forgetting the Swiss Championships in Basle. The brand was able to put its name to some very exciting sporting images, adding to its roll of honor several World Cup Swimming events including Durban, Melbourne, New York, Moscow, Berlin and Stockholm and the World Swimming Championships at Indianapolis, the European Championships in Madrid and Vienna (Short Course), the US Swimming Championships and the Water Polo World Cup at Long Beach.

As in every winter season, Swatch devoted almost 2000 man-days to the hundred or so Downhill Skiing and Snowboarding World Cup events, which are subject to the vagaries of the weather and the risk of cancellations, postponements, changes of venue and other last-minute alterations that keep our technicians constantly on their toes. Swatch had a second successful season in the young, fun sport of beach volleyball that fits the brand’s image so perfectly. World cup events took its technicians to Rhodes, Majorca, China, Japan, Brazil, the United States, Marseilles, Milan, Berlin, Klagenfurt and Gstaad.

Continuing its commitment to sport that reflects its dynamism, Tissot called on Swiss Timing for the World Track Cycling Championships in Melbourne, and the Road Championships in Verona, the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de Romandie, the Mountain Bike World Championships at Les Gets and the Mountain Bike World Cup, which included 8 events across Europe and North America. Lastly, as partner of the International Fencing Federation, Tissot also covered a Fencing World Cup event in Doha.

By meeting ever more demanding standards of performance, Swiss Timing’s state-of-the-art technology and the expertise and professionalism of its technicians ensured its continued dominance of the international sports timing arena. This has increased and strengthened both the credibility and the visibility of the Group’s brands throughout the entire world.