The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was the second time that the Summer Olympics were held in the Southern Hemisphere, the first one being in Melbourne in 1956, and as a result of this location and the dates, took place in early spring.

Host city selection

Sydney won the right to host the Games on 24 September 1993, after being selected over Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester in four rounds of voting, at the 101st IOC Session in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

The main venue (Stadium Australia) host concerts and sporting events every year including the annual NRL Grand Final (Rugby League), being the home ground of two NRL teams (Bulldogs and Rabbitohs) it is used constantly in winter. The Aquatic centre became a public swimming centre. The Olympic site itself has been used for the final race of the V8 Supercars Championship (Sydney 500) since 2009.

Opening Ceremony

Opening ceremony of the XXVII Olympic Games, held September 15, 2000 at Stadium Australia Stadium in the presence of 110,000 spectators. Director of representation was the Australian Ric Birch. The ceremony was attended by 12 600 artists, the total weight of the lighting and sound equipment has exceeded 99 tons. The colorful show includes elements of the aquatic extravaganza, symbolizing the close relationship the Australian people to the sea.

The traditional parade of nations consisted of the 198 delegations at the 199 participating countries in the Olympics, North and South Korea were in the parade under the banner of a single delegation from the image contours of the Korean Peninsula. The only member of the IOC, who refused to attend the Games has become Afghanistan - the ban was imposed by the ruling Taliban.


The sounds of the Olympic anthem was raised the Olympic flag. The final chord of the ceremony was the lighting of the Olympic flame. The honor of lighting was provided by an Australian athlete Cathy Freeman.

Cathy Freeman walked across a circular pool of water and ignited the cauldron through the water, surrounding herself within a ring of fire.

Olympic Fire

Sports

For ease of understanding, the 28 sports are:
aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoe/kayak, cycling equestrian, fencing, football, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing shooting, softball, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling.

Seven of these sports have disciplines, which are separate competitions contested under the jurisdiction of a specific sport. The seven sports and their disciplines are:

Aquatics: four disciplines - diving, swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo.

Canoe/kayak: two disciplines - slalom and sprint.

Cycling: three disciplines: road, track and mountain bike.

Equestrian: three disciplines - dressage, jumping and three-day event.

Gymnastics: three disciplines - artistic, rhythmic and trampolining.

Volleyball: two disciplines - volleyball and beach volleyball (nb: volleyball discipline is played indoors. The sport and the discipline share the same name).

Wrestling: two disciplines - freestyle and Greco-Roman.