From the "Athens 2004" web site

The Olympic Baseball tournament came to an exciting conclusion on Wednesday night with Cuba defeating unlikely opponent Australia in the gold medal game at the Olympic Baseball Centre in the Helliniko Olympic Complex.

Lopsided matches outnumbered competitive ones, but the games that counted showed why baseball can be the most amazingly unpredictable game when played the right way.

Cuba
The Cubans entered the tournament with a point to prove after losing in the gold medal game in Sydney to the United States.
Though the USA did not qualify, the Cubans showed the world why they are still a force to be reckoned with.
The 'big red machine' led the tournament in both batting and pitching, while executing flawlessly when the chips were down on both offence and defence.
Slugging catcher Ariel PESTANO led the tournament in hitting with a .514 batting average, while Adiel PALMA showed both guts and amazing arm strength by pitching long and difficult innings in the semifinals and finals as a starter, then a relief pitcher.
The gold is Cuba's third in four Olympic games.

Australia
Australia was not on most people's radar when discussing favourites at the start of the tournament, but coming off the plane, the team boldly stated that 'nothing but gold will do' and backed it up by coming close in a silver medal performance.
Young fireballer Chris OXSPRING did not allow a run in two tournament starts, while allowing only six hits.
OXPSPRING and Jeff WILLIAMS silenced Japan's bats in the semifinal match to put Australia in the unlikely finale with Cuba.
Catcher David NILSSON was a rock behind the plate, calling a solid game and providing clutch hits.

Japan
The tournament proved to be a large disappointment for the Japanese.
The team had golden expectations coming in, bringing a team of top talent from the country's professional leagues.
In the semifinal game agaisnt Australia, pitcher Daisuke MATSUZAKA was excellent, but OXSPRING was just a little bit better in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic Baseball history.
Shinya MIYAMOTO was the second leading hitter in the tournament with a batting average of .500.
Kenji JOJIMA showed power at the bat and defensive prowess from the catcher position.

Canada
Hopes were high for the Canadians after winning a pre-Olympic tournament in Rome, Italy, defeating Cuba 9-1.
Canada got off to a fast start, beating its first four opponents to grab first place.
Yet Canada could not overcome both Cuba and Japan in the preliminary rounds and then Cuba in the semifinals, falling to the 'big red machine' in a hard fought game that went to the final at bat to decide the winner.
The Canadian offence which started out hot, cooled as the tournament progressed, but its pitching remained the key to team success as starters such as Shawn HILL and relievers like Chris BEGG kept the Canadians in tight matches for most of the tournament.

Chinese Taipei
With a one run lead against Italy in the top of the ninth, Chinese Taipei looked to be in good position to make it to the medal round, yet a home run by Italian captain Claudio LIVERZIANI helped start a downward chain of events that saw Taipei lose that game and then a late lead to Japan the following day.
Taipei was still in every game it played and was led by a scrappy crew including contact hitter PENG Cheng Ming and power threat CHEN Chin Feng.

The Netherlands
The Netherlands got off to a fast start by defeating Greece 11-0.
It then found itself in good medal position at 2-2 after the first four days of competition.
Then the wheels fell off, as the Netherlands did not win a game the rest of the way.
This included a 22-2 pounding at the hands of Australia.
The Netherlands still showed itself to be a smart and disciplined team and played as well as any team in the tournament at times.

Greece
The host nation had a difficult go-around in its first Olympic competition.
The team, made of mostly North Americans of Greek heritage, did not win until its second to last game against European power Italy, but fulfilled its goal of bringing the sport to Greece.
The team played to mostly raucous sell out crowds, filled with people who chanted the names of mostly unknown minor league players.

Italy
The starting pitching was not a problem for the Italians, as the team stayed close with most teams until the late innings.
The bullpen, however, proved to be another story, as the European qualifying champions finished in last place.
Led by captain Claudio LIVERZIANI, the offence showed flashes at times, but the team still finished 1-6, its only win coming in a late inning victory against Chinese Taipei.