Rowan+J





 The Sydney 2000 Olympics  By Rowan Jobling



 The Article  On the 23rd September 1993, Sydney won the voting to host the XXVII (27th) Olympic Games in the year 2000. The games opened on Monday the 16th of October, Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic torch at the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony officially opened the Olympics. 199 different countries competed in the Olympics. The Australians had two standout performers, Ian Thorpe (Swimming) and Cathy Freeman (Running). The closing ceremony was on the 16th day of the Olympics (1st October). The opening ceremony was a very important moment in the history of Australia. The Sydney Olympics was a great thing to happen to Australia because of the tourism outcome! Approximately 100,000 people attended the opening ceremony. The acts were: Horse shows, Indigenous Australians doing a cultural dance, re-enacting of the First Fleet arriving and they also re-made Ned Kelly. But the standout performer was 13 year old Nikki Webster. She sang some great songs that captivated the audience. That was the start of her singing carrier. Then there was the lighting of the Olympic torch, Cathy Freeman lit it and was the first person in the history of the Olympics, to light the torch and win gold in the same games.   The Australians had some great games but unfortunately did not win the medal count, they came 4th. America came 1st, then Russia, China and Australia. The two standout performers were Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe. Cathy Freeman was running in the track events, she won the 400m sprint final. Ian Thorpe, on the 2nd day won the 400m freestyle semi-final, but unfortunately didn’t win the final. On the same day, he and 3 other Australians won the 4x100m Freestyle Final, beating America and making the new world record. The Closing ceremony was massive. There were 47,000 volunteers helping with the ceremony. Obviously America won the medal count with 97 medals in total. Marion Jones won the most individual medals; she won 5 medals from track events. But unfortunately said she took performance enhancing drugs. She got all of her medals stripped and got 6 months in jail. There were massive fireworks at the ceremony. The president of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaraneh said, “I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world, the best Olympic games ever!” On the 16th September 2000, the 27th Olympic Games started, the Australian standout performers were Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman. Marion Jones became famous after the games because of her admitting to the taking of drugs. I believe that in that time it was the best Olympic Games, but maybe now days the games are a bit better and they will be remembered more.