The Games Sydney 2000 - Part 1

There are three things that unite the Australian people as one, war, national tragedy and sporting events. Sporting heroes are national heroes. Sporting events such as the Melbourne Cup, a horse race, stop the nation. Cricket teams get ticker-tape parades through the city. Sporting personalities are frequently named Australian of the Year.

Sport is the national obsession.

For seven years Sydneysiders had waited for the Games. Since that memorable night in 1993 when Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee said "And the winner is Syd-en-ey".

For some the years seem long and they wondered if the time of the Games would ever come. For others, particularly the organisers, the time seemed only too short. Would everything be ready in time? A few didn't care one way or the other, they didn't want the disruption of the Games anyway.

There were arguments between politicians and organisers. There were arguments between everyone it seemed at times. There were fiascos of one sort and another. The media had a field day. There were days when everyone just hoped it would all go away.

In spite of the controversies about all manner of things and all the politicking, , the general feeling was that it would all fall into place and go right when the games started. All the problems of preparation would be forgotten, and how right they were.

Through all this the athletes trained and trained, hoping for their moment of glory, for their games. Young hopefuls and Olympic heroes of previous games tried their hardest at selection trials. Some made it, some didn't.

The first sign that it was really going to happen wasn't when Stadium Australia and other venues had transformed the wasteland of Homebush Bay, but when the torch was lit in Athens and started its long journey to Sydney. Finally things were happening. When the torch arrived in Australia and started its journey around the country from Uluru in Central Australia, excitement mounted and we knew that it was really after all this time happening!

People all over Australia turned out to watch the torch relay as it traversed the vast countryside of Australia, outback to city and towns, from Central Australia to the coast. Travelling through every state and finally to Sydney.

At last, the great day arrived, 15 September 2000 the day of the Opening Ceremony. Workers streamed home early in the day to watch it on television, others streamed into the city to watch and party at sites where huge screens had been set up and thousands more surged onto the trains heading for Olympic Park to see the Ceremony live at Stadium Australia.

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