Sydney, Australia – Years of preparation have culminated in the Games of the millennium. Sydney, centre of the action and always a keen party town, is in its element. Excitement reaches fever pitch by day, while by night strollers, diners and revellers pack the city’s restaurants, markets, bars and nightclubs.
The buzz is catchy and the atmosphere is electric. The scene is simultaneously very Australian yet very international.
Teams from 200 countries strode into the newly minted Olympic Stadium, welcomed by 110,000 cheering fans and an expected television audience of billions. Athletes marched in grinning, holding hands and basking in a warm standing ovation.
Thousands of athletes, officials, organisers, media, sponsors, guests and spectators swell the multicultural mix. Sydney is a diverse city in its own right, with residents tracing their origins to more than 140 different nations – not far short of the nearly 200 national groups represented in the Olympics. Sydneysiders are giving their visitors a hearty, Aussie welcome.
Performers in stilts stalked the stage in symbolic tribute to yesterdays Australia. The arena glowed with ethereal blues and angry oranges as deafening drums beat a tattoo. And the cultures most familiar tune, Waltzing Matilda, sprang jubilantly into the air from the instruments of a 2,000-piece band.
In music, imagery and a few well-chosen words, a fluid narrative launched the millenniums first games. From the populous coasts to the rough, empty Outback, from the aboriginal homelands to the European-built metropolises, performers told Australias story through one girls Alice-in-Wonderland journey.
The Olympic torch, which has been making its way across Australia since June, closes the ceremony by lighting the games cauldron. Adrenaline is pumping and fireworks are popping.
An innovative and energetic Olympic Arts Festival is under way throughout Sydney, presenting elements of Australian Aboriginal art, Pacific connections, the glittering harbour, Olympic architecture, colonial artists and maritime explorers.
The festival has even turned the white sails of Sydney Opera House multicoloured – for a while, anyway. The rainbow of colours is part of a spectacular display based on the themes of reef, water, fire and earth.
The Opera House sails light up dramatically twice a night and will do so throughout the Games – though they stayed a respectful, pristine white on the night of the Opening Ceremony!
While Sydney is the festive focal point, the thrill of the world’s biggest-ever sporting event is not confined to Sydney alone. Across Australia, visitors from around the world are striking gold as Aussies greet and host them with a cheery “g’day mate!”
International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch, presiding over his final games, issued a “special tribute” to Australias aboriginal people and “those who have made Australia what it is today.”
“To all the athletes of the world, good luck!” Samaranch said before asking Australian Governor General Sir William Deane to declare the games open as the 11,000 competitors cheered.
NBC tracked the show with 60 cameras, including one in a blimp and another in a helicopter. Spectators streamed into Olympic Park hours before the ceremony, many on a leg of the regional rail built just for that purpose.
On the opening night it was Australia and the whole world, beginning their two-week pageantry, competition and friendship.
