The or the '''Millennium Olympics''', officially known as the '''Games of the XXVII Olympiad''', were the
Summer Olympic Games held in
2000 in
Sydney ,
New South Wales ,
Australia .
While commonly referred to as "Summer Games", the Games of the XXVII Olympiad actually took place during the Southern Hemisphere's
Spring (early
Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere).
Sydney won the right to host the games on
September 23 ,
1993 after being selected over
Beijing ,
Berlin ,
Istanbul and
Manchester , by the final vote, in an election in
Monte Carlo .
Although the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony was not scheduled until
September 15 , the
Football competitions began with preliminary matches on
September 13 . Among the pre-ceremony fixtures, host nation Australia lost 1-0 to Italy at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground .
(who subsequently won the
400 M title). Cathy Freeman is a major role model for
Indigenous Australians ]]
The opening ceremony began with a tribute to the heritage of the
Australian Stock Horse , with the arrival of a lone rider,
Steve Jefferys , whose
Australian Stock Horse ''Ammo'' reared. Steve Jefferys then cracked his
Stockwhip and a further 120 riders and their Stock Horses entered the Stadium and performed intricate steps, including forming the five
Olympic Rings , to the music of
Bruce Rowland who composed a special Olympics version of the main theme which he had composed for the 1982 film ''
The Man From Snowy River ''. During this segment, the
Australian National Anthem was sung by both
Human Nature and
Julie Anthony . Other aspects of the ceremony included Australian people's affinity with the ocean, as well as pre-European - and also European - settlement and occupation of the land, and the continued migration to Australia from other nations.
The wife of
Juan Antonio Samaranch , the IOC President, was seriously ill and was not able to accompany her husband to the Olympics. Therefore, former Australian Olympic Champion swimmer,
Dawn Fraser , was seated in the chair next to Juan Antonio Samaranch during the Australian cultural display part of the opening ceremony, so that he would not be alone for the ceremony. Dawn Fraser also explained some of the cultural references in the display section to him.
A record 199 nations entered the stadium, the only missing peninsula; the two teams would compete separately, however. Four athletes from
East Timor also marched in the parade of nations. Although the country-to-be had no National Olympic Committee then, they were allowed to compete under the
Olympic Flag . The
Governor-General ,
Sir William Deane , opened the games.
The ,
Murray Rose ,
Liane Tooth ,
Gillian Rolton ,
Marjorie Jackson ,
Lorraine Crapp ,
Michael Wenden and
Nick Green . During the raising of the Olympics Flag, the
Olympic Hymn was sung by the Millennium Choir of the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.
The opening ceremony concluded with the lighting of the and
Raelene Boyle ,
Dawn Fraser ,
Shirley Strickland (later Shirley Strickland de la Hunty),
Shane Gould and
Debbie Flintoff-King brought the torch through the stadium, handing it over to
Cathy Freeman , who lit the flame in the cauldron within a circle of fire. This was followed by a fireworks display.
The young girl singer, who featured throughout much of the early part of the opening ceremony, was
Nikki Webster . Other musical performers taking part during the opening ceremony were
Olivia Newton-John and
John Farnham (who sang the duet "Dare to Dream" while walking among the athletes),
Vanessa Amorosi (who sang "Heroes" while a huge cloth was lowered down to cover the athletes - with sporting images and the image of a white dove of peace then being displayed on the cloth) and
Tina Arena (who sang "The Flame"). There was also a massed Millennium Marching Band of 2000 musicians - 1000 Australian musicians, with the remaining 1000 musicians being from other countries around the world (the massed band was so large that six
Conductors were required for the segment).
The English-language announcer for the Opening Ceremony was Australia actor
John Stanton , while the Channel 7 narrator for the Indigenous section of the Opening Ceremony was Australian Indigenous actor
Ernie Dingo .
The first medals of the Games were awarded in the women's 10 metre
Air Rifle competition, which was won by
Nancy Johnson of the
United States .
The
Triathlon made its Olympic debut with the women's race. Set in the surroundings of the
Sydney Opera House , Australian-born
Brigitte McMahon representing
Switzerland swam, cycled and ran to the first gold medal in the sport, beating the favoured home athletes.
The first star of the Games was
Ian Thorpe . The 17-year-old Australian first set a new world record in the 400 m freestyle final before competing in an exciting 4 x 100 m freestyle final. Swimming the last leg, Thorpe passed the leading Americans and arrived in a new world record time, two tenths of a second ahead of the Americans. In the same event for women, the Americans also broke the world record, finishing ahead of the
Netherlands and
Sweden .
Samaranch had to leave for home, as his wife was severely ill. Upon arrival, his wife had already died. Samaranch returned to Sydney four days later. The Olympic flag was flown at half-staff during the period as a sign of respect to Samaranch's wife.
Canadian Simon Whitfield sprinted away in the last 100 m of the men's triathlon, becoming the inaugural winner in the event.
On the
Cycling track,
Robert Bartko beat fellow
German Jens Lehmann in the individual pursuit, setting a new Olympic Record.
Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel set a world record in the semi-finals the same event for women.
In the swimming pool, American
Tom Dolan beat the world record in the 400 m
Medley , successfully defending the title he won in
Atlanta four years prior. Dutchwoman
Inge De Bruijn also clocked a new world record, beating her own time in the 100 m butterfly final to win by more than a second.
The main event for the Australians on the fourth day of the Games was the 200 m freestyle.
Dutchman Pieter Van Den Hoogenband had broken the world record in the semi-finals, taking it from the new Australian hero
Ian Thorpe , who came close to the world record in his semi-final heat. As the final race finished, Van den Hoogenband's time was exactly the same as in the semi-finals, finishing ahead of Thorpe by only half a second.
China won the
Gold Medal in the men's team all-around
Gymnastics competition, after being the runner-up in the previous two Olympics. The other medals were taken by
Ukraine and
Russia , respectively.
Zijlaard-van Moorsel lived up to the expectations set by her world record in
Cycling in the semis by winning the gold medal. The title completed her return to the sport after a long break because of
Anorexia Nervosa .
By rowing in the winning coxless four,
Steve Redgrave of
Great Britain became a member of a select group who had won gold medals at five consecutive Olympics.
during the 2000 Olympics]]
Australian Cathy Freeman won the 400 metre final in front of a jubilant Sydney crowd at the
Olympic Stadium , ahead of Lorraine Graham of
Jamaica and
Katharine Merry of
Great Britain . Cathy Freeman's win made her the first competitor in Olympic Games history to light the
Olympic Flame and then go on to win a
Gold Medal .
The
Canadian Flag at athletes' village is lowered to half-staff as
Canadian athletes pay tribute to former prime minister
Pierre Trudeau after hearing of his passing in
Montreal (Because of the time difference, it was September 29 in Sydney when Trudeau died).
Cameroon won a historic gold medal over
Spain in the Men's Olympic
Football Final at the Olympic Stadium. The game went to a penalty shootout.
IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch declared at the Closing Ceremony, "I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic Games ever."
Yvonne Kenny was the soprano who sang the ''
Olympic Hymn '' at the Closing Ceremony. The ceremony featured performing artists such as
Jimmy Barnes ,
Midnight Oil ,
Kylie Minogue ,
Slim Dusty ,
Christine Anu ,
Nikki Webster ,
John Paul Young , Melbourne-based singer
Vanessa Amorosi and pop duo
Savage Garden .
The Games were then handed over to the city of their birthplace,
Athens , where they would again take place in
2004 . The ceremony concluded with a huge
Fireworks display on
Sydney Harbour .
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
(''Host country is highlighted'')
The games were covered by the following broadcasters:
Running up to the games, a lesser-known Australian comedy satire
The Games was broadcast in Australia only. It featured a spoof of the issues and events that the top-level organisers and bureaucrats suffered in the lead up to the games.
NBC presented over 400+ hours on their main and sister stations,
CNBC and
MSNBC . The downside of the American coverage was that it was presented on tape delay rather than live due to the 15-hour time difference. The lone exception was the gold medal game in Men's Basketball, which featured the U.S. defeating France 85-75. The game was televised live in primetime on Saturday, September 30th(EDT), which was the afternoon of Sunday, October 1st in Australia. In their 2004 coverage, NBC and its sister networks presented live coverage throughout the morning and afternoon, while showing marquee events pre-taped in prime time.
A poignant part of the media coverage happened in the Canadian broadcast. On September 28, the CBC was airing the Olympics, when all of a sudden, the network's chief correspondent,
Peter Mansbridge , broke in and said:
:"Hello from Toronto, I'm Peter Mansbridge. Sad news to report from Montreal...Pierre Elliott Trudeau, prime minister of Canada from
1968 to
1984 with one brief interruption in
1979 , has passed away..."
People in Canada who wanted to see the Olympics between then and the closing ceremonies had to turn to TSN because the CBC was broadcasting news coverage related to the
Passing And State Funeral Of The Former Prime Minister .
A number of quasi-government bodies were responsible for the construction, organisation and execution of the Sydney Games. These included:
- SOCOG the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, primarily responsible for the staging of the Games
- OCA the Olympic Coordination Authority, primarily responsible for construction and oversight
- ORTA the Olympic Roads and Transport Authority
- OSCC the Olympic Security Command Centre
- OIC the Olympic Intelligence Centre
- JTF Gold the Australian Defence Force Joint Taskforce Gold
- SOBO the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation (nominally part of SOCOG)
These organisations worked closely together and with other bodies such as:
- the International Olympic Committee (or IOC)
- the Australian Olympic Committee (or AOC)
- the other 197 National Olympic Committees (or NOCs)
- the 33 International Sporting Federations (or IFs)
- all three levels of Australian government (federal, state and local)
- dozens of official sponsor and hundreds of official supplier companies
These bodies are often collectively referred to as the "Olympic Family".
Organisation of the
2000 Summer Paralympics was the responsibility of
SPOC the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee. However much of the planning and operation of the Paralympic Games was outsourced to SOCOG such that most operational programmes planned both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Organisation of the Olympic Games included not only the actual sporting events but also the management (and sometimes construction) of the sporting venues and surrounding precincts, the organisation of the
Sydney Olympic Arts Festival and
Olympic Torch Relay . The route the relay took is shown here:
The staging of the Olympics were treated as a
Project on a vast scale, with the project broken into several broad phases:
- 1993 to 1996 – positioning
- 1997 – going operational
- 1998 – procurement/venuisation
- 1999 – testing/refinement
- 2000 - implementation
- 2001 - post implementation and wind-down
The internal organisation of SOCOG evolved over the phases of the project and changed, sometimes radically, several times.
In late 1998 the design was principally ''functional''. The top two tiers below the
CEO consisted of five ''groups'' (managed by Group General Managers and the Deputy CEO) and twenty ''divisions'' (managed by divisional General Managers), which in turn were further broken up into ''programmes'' and ''sub programmes'' or ''projects''.
In 1999 functional areas (FAs) broke up into geographic precinct and venue teams (managed by Precinct Managers and Venue Managers) with functional area staff reporting to both the FA manager and the venue manager. Ie, SOCOG moved to a
Matrix Structure . The Interstate Football division extant in 1998 was the first of these geographically based venue teams.
The official
Mascots chosen for the 2000 Summer Olympics were:
- "" the Kookaburra — 'Olly' was named for 'Olympics'
- "" the Platypus — 'Syd' was named for 'Sydney', the host city for the Games.
- "" the Echidna — 'Millie' was named for 'Millennium'
There was also an unofficial mascot. For information, see
The Dream With Roy And HG .
Until the end of
1991 {Link without Title} , Australia minted both a:
In 1992, these
Australian Coins began to be removed from circulation. People were urged to exchange them for coins still in circulation.
Both the 1 cent coins and 2 cent coins were then melted down and turned into bronze medals for the 2000 Olympics.
Five cities made the shortlist to host the Olympics. which were awarded to Sydney on
September 23 ,
1993 . The other cities were
Beijing (
China ),
Manchester (
Great Britain ),
Berlin (
Germany ) and
Istanbul (
Turkey ).
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