Olympics Kids Zone - CBS SportsLine

Glory and grace: Sydney Olympics end

SportsLine.com wire reports
Oct. 1, 2000

SYDNEY, Australia -- From the fields of play to Sydney's spectacular harbor, Australia and the world's athletes cut loose Sunday, bidding goodbye to two weeks of sporting triumphs -- a memorable Summer Olympics proud to claim the coveted title of "best games ever."


Fireworks light up the sky as the closing ceremonies come to an end.(AP)

Fireworks exploded across the Sydney sky, heralding an 8.5-mile "fuse" designed to carry the Olympic torch's symbolic light from the main stadium along barges in Homebush Bay to a jam-packed downtown, where the majestic Harbor Bridge for an explosion of light.

"Seven years ago, I said, `And the winner is Sydney,"' said Juan Antonio Samaranch, the retiring president of the International Olympic Committee. "Well, what can I say now? Maybe, with my Spanish accent, `Aussie, Aussie, Aussie."'

The crowd of 100,000 thundered the response now known across the world: "Oi! Oi! Oi!"

Olympics-giddy fans and volunteers packed a stadium crackling with energy. They did the wave, flashed flashlights by the thousands into a crystal-clear night and chanted that spirited "Aussie" chant.

And with cameras and carefree smiles, 10,000 athletes flooded the biggest Olympic arena of all. Swimming gold medalist Ian Thorpe, in a red coat, carried the Australian flag, waving it to the music. It was a fun, festive end to the games. And, boy, was it weird.

Thirteen-year-old Nikki Webster, who journeyed through 50,000 years of Australian history in the opening ceremony, returned to star in the more festive wrapup.


During the closing ceremonies, an F-111 jet symbolically takes the Olympic flame.(AP)

The ceremony was broadcast live on giant screens across Sydney and Australia. It featured a flyover by two Royal Air Force F-111s, fireworks artists from five continents, 7,000 performers and a parade of "Australian icons" from Greg Norman and Elle MacPherson to country singer Slim Dusty and aboriginal rocker Yothu Yindi. Also included: Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan, a good-natured symbol of the struggle over the nation's changing image.

Australia expended great effort showing itself off during these Olympics to help visitors and a TV audience of billions understand that the world's southernmost continent is more than kangaroos and boomerangs. But, mindful of the tourism dollar, it also recognizes that pop-culture images still sell -- and sell well.

Thus the closing featured the Men at Work song Land Down Under. It featured the rubber thong, Australia's beach footwear of choice. It featured a tune any Olympic visitor cannot fail to recognize -- the unofficial national anthem, "Waltzing Matilda."

The verdict was certain and confident: Australia has successfully introduced itself to the world.

"All Australians are entitled to feel proud of our athletes, our country and ourselves, and what our nation has achieved during this period," Olympics minister Michael Knight said.

As with any Olympics, the 2000 Summer Games offered a dizzying selection of memorable moments to take home -- and some that everyone wishes they could forget.

From the pool to the track, the baseball field to the wrestling ring, athletes made the marks of a lifetime.

It was the Olympics of the Thorpedo. Of Cathy Freeman, the aboriginal sprinter who shouldered a nation's racial burden. Of Eric Moussambani, the swimmer from Equatorial Guinea who barely finished and captured the imagination of an underdog-friendly world.

It was an Olympics of whooshes -- Thorpe and Susie O'Neill and Jenny Thompson and Inge de Bruijn whooshing through the water. Marion Jones and Maurice Greene whooshing along the track. Stacy Dragila and Tatiana Grigorieva whooshing over the bar and claiming spots in pole-vaulting history.

It was an Olympics of surprises and unexpected twists: the U.S. softball team rallying for gold after a series of stunning losses; American wrestler Rulon Gardner defeating the most formidable foe of all, Russian Alexander Karelin; the U.S. men's basketball team nearly falling to Lithuania; Lance Armstrong losing the 33-mile time trial to his close friend Viacheslav Ekimov of Russia.

It was an Olympics of firsts, especially for women. Trampoline and taekwondo and synchronized diving made their debuts, as did women's pole vault, women's water polo and women's weightlifting.

"I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic Games ever," Samaranch said, and the stadium shook with cheers.