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)

             

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

MILESTONE: 25 Years of Stadium Australia (1999)

This year marks 25 years since Stadium Australia (currently known as Accor Stadium) was completed and hosted its first events ahead of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

In 1999, it was in its Olympic configuration, with a capacity of 110,000 and two temporary stands erected at the northern and southern ends of the stadium. Both stands were demolished after the Olympic Games in 2000 when the stadium was reconfigured into its current configuration of 83 500, and stadium roofing was extended over the northern and southern stands.  

Some of the highlights from its first year included:

NRL Double Header - March 6 1999

To mark the start of the 1999 Rugby League season, the National Rugby League (NRL) decided to host a doubleheader at the stadium in round one, which attracted a world record attendance of 104 583. 

In the first match, Newcastle defeated Manly 41-18, while Parramatta defeated St George-Illawarra 20-10. The night was also historic because it was the first match featuring the joint venture team St George Illawarra, formed after a merger of the St George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers at the end of the 1998 NRL season.  

Bee Gees concert - March 27 1999

The Bee Gees claimed bragging rights for the first concert at the stadium, held just three weeks after the NRL Double Header. Over 60,000 attended the concert, the only Australian concert in its six-concert world tour.

Source: Scatena, D. 1999. "Bee Gees a sure thing in the poll that counts". The Daily Telegraph, March 27: 15. 

However, the concert was overshadowed by the lack of train services to transport those travelling home to the Western Suburbs after the concert. As for the concert itself, there were issues with food and drink, but the sound was "great". Barry Gibb (Bee Gees) was "very impressed" with the stadium and the sound.

Source: McMillan, A. 1999. "So, where were the trains". The Daily Telegraph, March 29: 7.

Official Opening - June 12 1999

Stadium Australia. 1999. "The Official Opening of Stadium Australia" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, June 11: 17.

I was fortunate to attend this event with my family on a cold june evening, sitting in the temporary southern grandstand. 88 000 people were treated to an entertainment spectacular before the feature event - an international football (soccer) match between the Socceroos and the Fifa All Stars. Australia prevailed 3-2. 

NFL American Bowl - August 7 1999

Held on August 7, the American Bowl was hosted in Australia for the first time, featuring the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers. Watched by a crowd of just under 74,000 people, Denver won 20-17.

Bledisloe Cup - August 28 1999

On August 28, Stadium Australia hosted its first rugby union international test. Australia faced New Zealand in the Bledisloe Cup.  It set a world record for the most attended rugby union game - 107 042, only to be broken the following year when the same nations played before a crowd of 109 874. Australia won 28-7 to retain the Bledisloe Cup.

Also, John Williamson led the crowd in singing Waltzing Matilda after the All Blacks performed the pre-game haka. 

NRL Grand Final - September 26 1999

Held on September 26, 1999, St George Illawarra returned to the ground where they began their season and faced up to the Melbourne Storm, who were playing in their first grand final. Melbourne Storm defeated St George 20-18 after a penalty try was awarded to Craig Smith (Melbourne) late in the game and was converted by Matt Geyer. 

The 1999 NRL Grand Final also had the highest attendance of a rugby league game in the world, beating the record set six months earlier in the same venue, with 107,999 in attendance.  

Source: Stephens, T. 1999. "Lazarus and the miracle of the Melbourne stealers". The Sydney Morning Herald, September 27: 1.

The Sydney Morning Herald published a photospread in its Sporting Life section on September 27 1999.

 

Remember This? Stadium Australia Gold Packages (1996)

I remember the commercials back in 1996 when people were invited to purchase a limited number of Stadium Australia Gold Packages which were traded on the Australian Stock Exchange.

For $10 000, you would be guaranteed a seat at every session held in the stadium during the 2000 Olympic Games. You would not have needed to even enter the ballot for tickets, stadium membership (annual fee payable) which would entitle you to free seating at most events, priority bookings, and access to special facilities for thirty years from 1999 (when the stadium opened).

For a sports fan, this would have been the ultimate return on their investment. 

Below is an advertisement that was published in The Sydney Morning Herald on October 19, 1996, which was a huge double page spread. Sadly I don't have the page numbers for it.

2000: Sydney Olympics Flashback - Opening & Closing Ceremonies

The Games of the 31st Olympiad are well underway in Rio De Janiero, Brazil. We were treated to an impressive opening ceremony on Saturday morning. This week lets relive our ceremony from when we hosted the Games of the 27th Olympiad in September 2000.

Sydney's Opening Ceremony on September 15 lasted four hours and involved more than 10 000 performers. Stockmen on Horses opened the ceremony with a procession which culminated in them forming the Olympic rings. After the VIP's and the anthem was sung, viewers were treated to the story of a young girl visiting the beach. She falls asleep and then is taken on a trip through time as the story of Australia. The young girl was Sydney school student Nikki Webster. She now runs a dance school based at Leichhardt.

   

The cauldron was lit by Cathy Freeman who would go on to win gold in her pet event - the 400 metre race in Athletics a week and a half later. Legends including Dawn Fraser and Betty Cuthbert were tipped as favourites by bookies to receive the honour. Fraser and Cuthert joined Shane Gould, Raylene Boyle, Shirley Strickland De La Hunty and Debbie Flintoff King in relaying the flame around Stadium Australia. However, there was an epic blunder when technical problems saw the lit cauldron stop on its ascent for four minutes.

Performers included John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John who performed a duet - "Dare to Dream". Vanessa Amorossi performed "Heroes Live Forever" while Tina Arena performed "The Flame" to welcome the Olympic Flame into the stadium. Julie Anthony with support from Human Nature performed the best ever rendition of Advance Australia Fair and for a change, both verses were sung.

10 000 Athletes from 199 countries plus 4 Individual Olympic Athletes from East Timor participated in the Parade of Athletes. As hosts, Australia marched into the stadium at the end of the parade with a team of 632 athletes, receiving a big welcome from the 110 000 assembled.

Governor General Sir William Deane (as the Queen's representative in Australia) officially opened the Olympics.

Eight former Olympic Champions from Australia were involved in the raising of the Olympic Flag.

The ceremony was broadcast on Channel Seven and this was the most watched television event in Australian History with around 11 million watching that evening.

As a bonus, why not include the Closing Ceremony as well. This had to be our biggest concert ever with a plethora of stars including Slim Dusty, Midnight Oil, Paul Hogan, Savage Garden and Kylie Minogue.

This was also the first closing ceremony where the show was taken out of the main stadium - a 20-minute fireworks finale on Sydney Harbour featuring a river of fire from the Stadium down the Parramatta River into Sydney Harbour. One million attended the display itself, which at the time was the biggest fireworks show in history. It involved five fireworks companies from around the world. The "best ever" Olympics had finished with a bang.

Sydney did set one new innovation that Beijing was happy to do for their opening ceremony in 2008 - A big fireworks finale to end off the show. They were not afraid to take out of the stadium and into the surrounding area. London also followed Sydney's lead. Melbourne did it for their Commonwealth Games in 2006.

It was moments like this in the Sydney Olympic Games that would help reinvigorate the Olympic Movement which was battling corruption associated with the successful bid for the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sydney was seen as vital to the future of the Olympic Movement and this city gave it a shot in the arm.

The Olympic Cauldron at Cathy Freeman Park. Photo was taken by the Author (2006).