Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: Newspaper Front Pages (2000)

In this series looking back at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, we have so far examined how Sydney won the Olympic Games, the Torch Relay, and last week's Opening Ceremony.

This week, I will share some newspaper front pages that captured some of the highlights of the Olympic Games, focusing on the successes of the Australian team.

September 17 2000

An early edition of The Sunday Telegraph (printed the evening before) featured Michelle Jones becoming Australia's first medallist at the 2000 Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in the women's triathlon.

The Sun Herald, in its morning edition, captures the victorious Men's Freestyle 4 x 100 metre relay team (Swimming) that defeated the United States the night before in a world record time. 

The afternoon edition had a victorious Ian Thorpe on the front cover after he won the 400 metres Freestyle (Swimming) the previous evening as well. 

September 19 2000

On September 18, Ian Thorpe was defeated by 0.48 seconds in the 200 metres Freestyle (Swimming) by Pieter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands). The winning time was 1 minute,45.35 seconds. The Australian captured the moment of defeat for Thorpe on its front page. 

The Sydney Morning Herald captured van den Hoogenband's leap into the air as he claimed victory. 

September 20 2000

September 19 saw Australia have one of its greatest days in Olympic History - three gold medals:

1. Three-Day Eventing Team (Equestrian)
2. Susie O'Neill in the 200 metres Freestyle (Swimming)
3. Men's 4 x 200 metre Freestyle Relay (Swimming)

September 21 2000

Susie O'Neill may have won silver in her pet event (200 metres Butterfly - Swimming), but her 200 metre Freestyle Gold Medal (Swimming) proved to be the catalyst for her to retire from professional swimming.

September 24 2000

On September 23, Grant Hackett claimed Gold in the Men's 1500 metre Freestyle (Swimming), defeating two-time Gold medallist Keiren Perkins. Perkins, who won the event in 1992 and 1996, claimed Silver despite qualifying fastest.   

September 26 2000
The previous evening, Cathy Freeman won Gold in the Women's 400 metres (Athletics).

September 28 2000

Jane Saville in the Women's 20km Walk (Athletics) is disqualified metres from entering Stadium Australia. TV replays show that the viewers found out around one to two seconds before she actually did. The image is captured straight off the TV feed via Channel Seven.  

On September 27, 2000, Lauren Burns won Australia's first gold medal in Taekwondo in the Women's under 49 kg class. The Australian had a page one feature, but a drugs scandal involving athletes and officials dominated much of the page. A record 18 Athletes and two coaches had been sent home after positive drug tests. It also dominated the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald in its morning (Metropolitan) edition. 

September 29 2000

Jane Saville's disqualification in the Women's 20km Walk (Athletics) the previous day is captured in four frames on Page 1 of The Australian, along with her in tears.

The evening edition of The Daily Telegraph captured the disappointment of the Australian Women's 4 x 100 metre relay team (Athletics) after they were disqualified after dropping a baton. 

Next week, I will conclude the series by examining the Closing Ceremony. 

Entries in this series

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: Sydney wins the Games (1993)

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: The Torch Relay

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: Opening Ceremony (September 15, 2000)

             

Property Advert of the Week: Colmore Homes (1969)

Below is a 1969 newspaper advertisement for Colmore Homes promoting house and land packages at Moorebank for a deposit of $895. The Exhibition Village was located on Renton Ave. 

  

Source: Colmore Holdings Pty. Ltd. 1969. "New Exhibition Village" (Advertisement). The Daily Mirror, February 7: 48. 

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: Opening Ceremony (September 15, 2000)

Sourced from The Sun Herald (September 17, 2000)

Today (September 15) is exactly 25 years to the day since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games commenced. On the evening of September 15, 2000, the Opening Ceremony was held at Stadium Australia (now ACCOR Stadium) before a crowd of 110,000 people. 

The ceremony began at 7 pm when a solo horseman rode into the stadium, cracked his whip and was joined by 120 other riders carrying Australian Flags to represent horse riders within Australian culture - Light Horse Brigade, Melbourne Cup or simply out on the land to a musical number from The Man From Snowy River.

This was followed by the welcoming of the official party, including IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch and Governor General Sir William Deane, and the national anthem performed by Julie Anthony and Human Nature. 

Those present and TV viewers around the world were treated to a presentation of Australian Geography, History and Culture with the following segments:

• Deep Sea Dreaming (Aboriginal Dreamtime)
• Awakening (Indigenous Australians)
• Fire
• Nature
• Tin Symphony (Colonial Australia)
• Arrivals (Immigration)
• Eternity (Australian Workers)

Sourced from The Daily Telegraph (September 16, 2000)

Just prior to the parade of Athletes, the Millennium Marching Band also presented a segment. 

This was followed by the Athletes Parade. Australia, as the host nation, was the last nation to enter and was given a massive welcome with Andrew Gaze (Basketballer) carrying the flag.  

Sourced from The Sun Herald (September 17, 2000)

Once the Athletes Parade concluded, there were the formalities in this order:

• John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John performed Dare to Dream
• Address by SOCOG President - Michael Knight
• Address by IOC President - Juan Antonio Samaranch
• Olympics declared officially open by Governor General Sir William Deane (First non-royal to open a Summer Olympic Games in a Commonwealth nation)
• Vanessa Amorosi performed Heroes live forever - a massive white flag projected images as it passed over the audience in the southern grandstand, and then covered the entire field.
• Raising of the Olympic Flag
• Taking of the Olympic Oath by athletes and officials
• Lighting of the Cauldron
• The final runners were Betty Cuthbert (aided by Raylene Boyle in her wheelchair), Dawn Fraser, Shirley Strickland de la Hunty, Shane Gould and Debbie Flintoff King. They were selected as a tribute to 100 years of women's participation in the Olympic Games
• Cathy Freeman was bestowed with lighting the cauldron. The cauldron was placed in a pool of water. Freeman lit the cauldron from the middle of the pool and rose around her. It would ascend up a waterfall in the northern stand and would rest on a silver pedestal above the stadium 
• Fireworks Finale

Sourced from The Sun Herald (September 17, 2000)

Below are newspaper front pages from the Opening Ceremony.

 

Our Series continues next week.

Entries in this series

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: Sydney wins the Games (1993)

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: The Torch Relay

Property Advert of the Week: Hooker Homes, Winston Hills (1969)

Below is a 1969 newspaper advertisement by Hooker Homes promoting house and land packages that were available at Winston Hills.

 

Source: Hooker Homes. 1969. "Whats New?" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, July 12: 25. 

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: The Torch Relay

In this series to mark 25 years since Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympic Games, this entry focuses on the torch relay.

On May 10, 2000, in Olympia, Greece, the relay commenced its historic 36,000-kilometre journey. The torch could not be lit using the parabolic mirrors, which create the heat from the sun to generate the flame, due to cloud cover. A backup from a rehearsal had to be used. It spent ten days in Greece before reaching Athens and involved 800 runners. 

1500 would carry the torch as it visited nations across Oceania, including Guam, Palau, Micronesia, Nauru, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa, American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga, and New Zealand. Fiji was removed from the relay after a political coup occurred there on May 19 2000. 

June 8, 2000, marked 100 days until the Olympic Games and marked the start of the torch relay in Australia. The relay began at Uluru with Nova Peris-Kneebone as the first runner. From there, it visited all Australian States and Territories, covering 27,000 kilometres and involving 11,000 runners. 

The relay first reached Sydney on September 3 when it arrived in Penrith after being run across the Blue Mountains. The following day, it trekked through the outer west to Campbelltown for a lunchtime ceremony before heading south to Bowral to continue the relay across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

The relay returned to Sydney on September 11, 2000, after being run from Wollongong, spending the first night in Sydney at Cronulla. 

Below is a map of the torch relay route through Sydney, which covered its final days until it entered Stadium Australia at Homebush as the climax of the Opening Ceremony on the evening of September 15 2000. 

It encompassed days 96-100 of the torch relay (September 11-15, 2000)

This was sourced from the "Here at last" liftout, which was featured in The Daily Telegraph on September 11, 2000.

Below are selected clippings from Sydney newspapers, primarily focusing on photographic spreads, relating to the final days of the torch relay.

The Daily Telegraph

September 12 2000

The Daily Telegraph

September 13 2000

The Daily Telegraph

September 14 2000

Evening Edition

The Sydney Morning Herald

September 15 2000

On the evening of September 14, an estimated crowd of one million watched the relay weave through central Sydney. At 7:11pm, the Olympic Rings were switched on the Sydney Harbour as Olivia Newton-John passed on the flame to Pat Rafter (Tennis) at the Sydney Opera House. 

   

Below are two articles that featured in The Sydney Morning Herald that day, including the lighting of the flame at the community cauldron at Sydney Town Hall, lit by golfer Karrie Webb.

Source: Dennis, A. 2000. "After seven years, this was not a time for long speeches". The Sydney Morning Herald, September 15: 5. 

Source: Stephens, T. 2000. "Torch switch turns on lights all over town". The Sydney Morning Herald, September 15: 5. 

The Daily Telegraph

September 15 2000

Evening Edition

The front page featured Greg Norman being mobbed by fans on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Traffic on the bridge was brought to a complete standstill. 

 

The Daily Telegraph

September 16 2000

 

Next week, I will provide an overview of the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games.

Entries in this series:

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: Sydney wins the Games (1993)

Property Advert of the Week: Arena, Rockdale (2003)

Below is a 2003 newspaper advertisement promoting the Arena complex at Rockdale.

One-bedroom apartments with a study were on offer from $315 000 while two-bedroom apartments with a media room were on sale from $385 000.

   

Source: Anon. 2003. "Arena" (Advertisement). The Sunday Telegraph, April 6: 16 (Homeowner Liftout).

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: Sydney wins the Games (1993)

 

Source: Brown, W. 1990. "Untitled" (Image). The Daily Mirror, September 19: 9. 

This year is a quarter of a century since Sydney hosted the Olympic Games of the 27th Olympiad. This week and in the month of September, I will post entries relating to the Olympic Games in 2000, which have been regarded as the "best Olympic Games ever".

In order to host the Olympic Games, cities have traditionally bid to host the Olympic Games. Sydney bid against Beijing, Manchester, Berlin and Istanbul. 

Sydney's Olympic Bid came from failures by Australia to secure the 1992 Olympic Games for Brisbane and 1996 for Melbourne. 

That would not stop Sydney. The day after, The Daily Mirror cartoonist Warren Brown presented then Premier Nick Griener in front of the Sydney Opera House with "Sydney Olympics 2000" coming out of the front sails. The perfect forewarning of what was to happen next. 

Sydney had to bid against Melbourne to be Australia's bid for 1996. They were unsuccessful. 

In Tokyo on September 18, 1990,  Atlanta was successful in their bid for the 1996 Olympic Games. Melbourne finished fourth, behind Atlanta, Athens and Toronto and ahead of Manchester and Belgrade. Prime Minister Bob Hawke was concerned that smaller countries like Australia would find it impossible to host the Olympics in the future, given the financial resources available to larger nations such as the United States. As a result, it may have been "well into the next century" before an Australian city would bid again.

Weeks later, the Australian Olympic Committee announced that Sydney had won the nomination, citing that it had "little chance" of bidding for the Olympic Games again and that Brisbane could not compete against other bidders, which were likely to include Berlin, London, Beijing, Milan, and Rio de Janeiro. The announcement was delivered by Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates on November 16 1990. Why the quick announcement? They wanted maximum time to prepare a bid.

Source: Grimshaw, P. 1990. "Sydney wins Games battle". The Daily Telegraph Mirror, November 17: 1 & 2. 

Sydney's Olympic Bid was officially registered with the International Olympic Committee in April 1992. However, in February 1991, it secured a Commonwealth Government loan to fund the construction of facilities, which then enabled the State Government to commence formal bidding. 

Source: Grimshaw, P. 1991. "$300m Games bid approved". The Daily Telegraph Mirror, February 27: 6.

The bid was launched on March 29, 1992, during the 60th Anniversary celebrations for the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Those who were around in the early 1990s would remember the Share the Spirit advertisements that were screened on Sydney television. 

On September 23, 1993, in Monte Carlo, Sydney was successful in its bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games. It beat Beijing 45-43 in the final round of voting, despite Sydney being second to Beijing in the preliminary rounds. Other bidding cities were: Manchester, Berlin and Istanbul. Brasilia also placed a bid, but withdrew. 

The announcement was carried live on ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten Networks. Below is Channel Ten's coverage of the announcement, which was selected because it shows the raw reaction by the Sydney delegation, along with the local reaction simultaneously. The video was uploaded to YouTube by the "Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Vault" account. 

ABC, Seven and Nine Networks presented a joint broadcast anchored by Bruce McAveney (Seven) and Ray Martin (Nine). 

Newspapers provided extensive coverage; however, I will focus on the front pages of newspapers only.

The Daily Telegraph Mirror  

The headline "We Win" took up almost the entire front page.

 

The Sydney Morning Herald produced a special dawn edition for its readers  

This was the wraparound for The Sydney Morning Herald, which featured a full-colour rendering of how Sydney Olympic Park would look in 2000, based on the current scheme at the time. They had to do a reprint after all copies were sold out. 

   

September 25 1993

The Daily Telegraph Mirror

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Weekend Australian

 

I could do a whole series based on Sydney's Olympic Bid, but rather keep it in a nutshell. Next week, a look at the 2000 Olympic Games Torch Relay.