2000 Summer Olympics

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Games of the XXVII Olympiad
Nations participating	199
Athletes participating	10,651 (6,582 men, 4,069 women)
Events	300 in 28 sports
Opening ceremonies	September 15, 2000
Closing ceremonies	October 1, 2000
Officially opened by	William Deane
Athlete's Oath	Rechelle Hawkes
Judge's Oath	Peter Kerr
Olympic Torch	Cathy Freeman

The Games of the XXVII Olympiad were held in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. Sydney was elected in 1993 above Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester.

Highlights

Prologue

Although the Opening Ceremony was not scheduled until September 15, the football competitions already began on September 13, with the first preliminary matches

Day 1 - September 15

In a long opening cermony, Australia presented itself and its celebrities to the world, with about 3,000 million watching the show. They saw a record 199 nations enter the stadium, the only missing IOC member being the suspended Afghanistan. Most remarkable was the entering of North and South Korea as one team, using a specially designed flag. 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 yet, they were allowed to compete under the Olympic Flag. The Governor-General, Sir William Deane, opened the games.

The ceremonies concluded with the lighting of the Olympic Flame. Former Australian Olympic champions brought the torch through the stadium, handing it over to Cathy Freeman, who lit the flame in the cauldron. A hot favourite for the 400 m title, Freeman is a major role model for Aborigines in Australia.

Day 2 - September 16

Gold medalist Nancy Johnson (center) of the U.S., raises her hands with silver medalist Cho-Hyun Kang (left), of Korea, and bronze winner Jing Gao (right), of China, during the first medal ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games.

The first medals of the Games were awarded in the women's 10 meter air rifle competition, which was won by Nancy Johnson of the United States.

Triathlon made its Olympic debut with the women's race. Set in the surroundings of the Sydney Opera House, Brigitte McMahon of 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 World Record, finishing ahead of the Netherlands and Sweden.

IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, at his last Olympics, had to leave for home, as his wife was severely ill. Upon arrival, his wife had already passed away. Samaranch returned to Sydney four days later.

Day 3 - September 17

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.

Day 4 - September 18

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 wins 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 are 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.

Day 9 - September 23

By rowing in the winning coxed four, Steve Redgrave of Great Britain became a member of a select group who had won gold medals at five consecutive Olympics.

Day 10 - September 25

Australian Cathy Freeman won the 400 metre final in front of a jubilant Sydney crowd at the Olympic Stadium. The race was tipped to be a major attraction of Sydney Games between Freeman and France's Marie-José Perec. But Perec left Sydney before the race even began, which left many International commentators and fans dissapointed. Perec vowed never to return to Sydney again. Freeman finished the Race ahead of Lorraine Graham of Jamaica and Katharine Merry of Great Britain, which delighted Australian sporting fans and commentators alike

Day 13 - September 28

Former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau dies. IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch ordered the Canadian flag at athletes' village flown half-staff, on orders from Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, even though it was already September 29 when the news of Trudeau's passing in Montreal reached Sydney. Canadian athletes held a ceremony before the flag was lowered to half-staff. They would later learn how official Ottawa would mourn the former prime minister--Trudeau would lie in state on Parliament Hill from where he once dominated their nation.

Day 15 - September 30

Cameroon went on to win a historic gold medal over Spain in the Men's Olympic Football Final at the Olympic Stadium

Day 16 October 1

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" The Games are handed over to Athens where they take place in 2004.

Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Medal count

Top medal-collecting nations:

2000 Summer Olympics medal count
Rank	NOC Name	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	40	24	13	97
2	Russia	32	28	28	88
3	China	28	16	15	59
4	Australia	16	25	17	58
5	Germany	13	17	26	56
6	France	13	14	11	38
7	Italy	13	8	13	34
8	Netherlands	12	9	4	25
9	Cuba	11	11	7	29
10	Great Britain	11	10	7	28
For the full list, see 2000 Summer Olympics medal count

See also:

• 2000 Summer Olympics medal productivity
• For a list of medals per capita and similar statistics, see http://simon.forsyth.net/olympics2000.html .

Media coverage

The games were covered by the following broadcasters:

• Seven Network (Australia)
• BBC (United Kingdom)
• NBC (United States)
• SVT (Sweden)
• CBC and TSN (Canada)

One of the more notable parts of the media coverage of the games was the two-hour nightly broadcast of The Dream, a comedy talk show discussing the past day's events, presented by Australian comedic duo Roy and HG. The show was broadcast internationally, and featured a wombat mascot, (named Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat), who became significantly more popular than the official mascots Syd, Ollie and Millie. Their commentary on the men's gymnastics was also entertaining.

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.

Between 6:00 p.m. ET, September 28 and the closing ceremonies on October 1, the only scene the CBC in Canada broadcast from the games was the Canadian flag at the athletes' village at half-staff. People in Canada that wanted to see the olympics during that period had to turn to TSN because the CBC was broadcasting news coverage of the six emotional days that marked the passing and state funeral of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau (When the closing ceremonies took place, Trudeau was lying in state on Parliament Hill).

Organisation

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
• SOBO the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation (nominally part of SOCOG)

These organisations worked closely together and with other bodies such as:

• IOC the International Olympic Committee
• AOC the Australian Olympic Committee
• other NOCs or National Olympic Committees
• International Sporting Federations
• all three levels of Australian government (federal, state and local)
• official sponsor and 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.

See also

• 2000 Summer Paralympics
• International Olympic Committee
• IOC country codes

External links

• IOC Site on 2000 Summer Olympics
• Sydney 2000 Olympic Games - archived websites in PANDORA

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