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.