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Friday, September 15
Ceremony spectacular opens Games
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- This singular land Down Under burst
upon the world Friday, opening the 2000 Summer Olympics with a
thunder of hoofbeats, wild fantasy, blazing color, and booming
cheers from a moist-eyed crowd.
|  | | Cliff Meidl carried the U.S. flag and led the largest contingent in the Games. |
Aussies and visitors alike dabbed repeatedly at their eyes from
the rush of stirring sights and sounds. And once, it was for a
display of Olympian brotherhood: Koreans coming together.
In a spectacular finale, Australian Cathy Freeman, an Aborigine runner out
for gold, lit an Olympic ring of fire against a surprise sudden
backdrop of cascading water.
The seemingly endless parade of athletes and coaches, at 12,000
the largest number at any Olympics, came from 200 points on the
map, a mix of countries, territories and nations.
North and South Korea marched together under a single flag, a
blue outline of their land symbolically united for the first time
in nearly half a century. A full stadium of 110,000 people rose to
cheer them.
Athletes from the two halves walked side by side, hands held
high in touching triumph. An electrical current of emotion swept
the stadium, bringing some to tears.
Strong applause welcomed the Americans, 600 of them in white
cowboy hats set at jaunty angles.
But the real thunder came at the end, to chants of "Aussie,
Aussie, Aussie." The local hopefuls seemed to stride on air. They
mugged for the crowd. Each had a yellow kangaroo to toss high into
the stands.
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Carrying the torch
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SYDNEY, Australia -- Runner Cathy Freeman, an uneasy symbol
of Australia, lighted the Olympic flame Friday to mark the opening
of the Sydney Games.
The flame that had toured Australia for three months was carried
through the stadium by a relay of the country's great female
Olympians of the past, then handed off to Freeman, one of its great
hopes for gold this year in the 400 meters.
The choice of Freeman, a champion of aboriginal rights, also was
a symbol of the country's efforts to heal the wounds over the
treatment of its 390,000 indigenous people.
The torch's journey through Australia had begun with another
Aborigine, hockey gold medalist Nova Peris-Kneebone.
When Freeman won the 400 meters at the 1994 Commonwealth Games
in Canada, she took a victory lap carrying the aboriginal flag.
When officials rebuked her for that, she won the 200 meters -- and
again unfurled it.
Freeman has not lost at 400 meters in three years and is the
two-time defending world champion. She also may run at 200 meters
and is expected to anchor Australia's 1,600-meter relay team.
The closing of Friday's emotional ceremony focused on
Australia's great Olympians -- some of the greatest from any nation.
Three-time silver medalist Raelene Boyle entered the stadium
pushing the wheelchair of Betty Cuthbert, a multiple-sclerosis
sufferer who won three gold medals as a sprinter at the 1956
Melbourne Olympics and added a fourth at Tokyo in 1964.
The flame was passed from Cuthbert to swimmer Dawn Fraser, a
triple-gold medalist, and then to track star Shirley Strickland-de
La Hunty, who won seven medals, three of them gold.
It then went to Shane Gould, winner of three golds in 1972, and
to Debbie Flintoff-King, a gold medal hurdler at the Los Angeles
games of 1984.
Then Freeman, barely suppressing tears of emotion, jogged up a
flight of stairs in a runner's bodysuit, stepped into a pool and
touched the torch to the water, creating a circle of flame. As the
ring of fire encircled her, a cauldron resembling a spaceship rose
from the water, ascending a waterfall to top of the stadium.
-- Associated Press
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And throughout it all, the leitmotif was Australia's own way to
say hello: "G'Day." It was emblazoned on a blimp. It was painted
on a huge colorful banner that reached from the high seats down to
the field.
Even Juan Antonio Samaranch said it at the start of his brief
address. Moments later, the head of the International Olympic
Committee touched the clear theme of Australia's multicultural
opening extravaganza.
"I would like to express our respect to those who have made
Australia what it is today -- a great country," he said, "with a
special tribute to the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people."
On the morning after the extravagant four-hour opening ceremony,
the triathlon was scheduled to make its debut as an Olympic sport Saturday (Friday
night ET) when the competitors hit the harbor near the Sydney
Opera House. It's the first of 13 gold medals up for grabs Saturday at the
Summer Games.
In an opening ceremony prelude, John Williamson sang "Waltzing Matilda," slow
and haunting, and sent goose bumps up the aisles Friday night. Then the cameras
switched on to relay the show to billions around the world.
A lone rider galloped out on a chestnut stallion, in Outback hat
and long caped oilskin stockmen's coat, to the music of "A Man
From Snowy River."
Then 120 more followed, blue Olympic rings snapping on white
flags they held aloft. With perfect precision, they crisscrossed
again and again at high speed.
After the national anthem, the riders exchanged the Olympic
banners for Australia's Union Jack on a deep blue field of Southern
Cross stars. They circled again, and the crowd went wild.
Australia, normally tucked out of sight, seized its moment to
depict its colorful history, from the indigenous "dreaming" of
creation to a hopeful future view of varied cultures in a seamless
society.
The story was spun out in the reverie of a curly blonde
13-year-old, Nikki Webster, who dozed off on a beach towel.
Suddenly, she was somersaulting high above the field, on wires,
among giant jellyfish and whimsical sea creatures.
With a blue fabric sea undulating below and lights playing
above, the effect was a three-dimensional Great Barrier Reef in the
heart of Sydney.
The "Hero Girl" fell behind as she swam with the fantasy
fishes, and dropped terrified into a band of Aborigines. But they
took her to Djakapurra the Songman, who sprinkled her with magical
dust.
Together, they watched Australia take shape.
Aborigines gathered for a corroboree, a powwow in ceremonial
paint, with drums, didgeridoos and clacking sticks, under clouds of
cleansing smoke. Stiltwalkers, mischievous spirits, strode among
them.
Then a dramatic boom of fireworks in the new stadium's soaring
steel eaves signified that a new land had been born.
Fire engulfed the field, heat-tempering symbolic soil. Each of
the 220 human Molotov cocktails spewed flames high into the air,
spitting fuel lighted by their torches.
Nature sprouted a riot of flowers and jungle, with glittering
gold eucalyptus trees rising among the rich reds of flora found
only in the land of Oz.
A segment called Tin Symphony brought the Europeans and their
hardware, starting with Captain Cook's ship. Odd bits of metal
shaped into shacks. A giant steel horse tilted into a windmill.
The pageant was laced with insider lore. Black boxy characters
depicted armor fashioned by Ned Kelly, a beloved bandit, a Robin
Hood who stole from the rich and kept it.
In one corner of the 10-ring circus, traditional woodchoppers
working high up in the air, whacked through thick upright logs.
Final segments showed Australia's new arrivals blending into a
rainbow of no particular color. Teen-age hoofers tap-danced, coming
onto the field from high up the stands, which echoed with their
energy.
Cardboard cartons began to bounce, and they were suddenly sheep.
These morphed into men pushing power mowers through suburbia.
Hand in hand, Hero Girl and the Songman stood above a field of
roiling color, as the cast of 12,600 -- fish, flowers,
fire-breathers -- danced a rousing climax.
Then came the pomp. A 2,000-member marching band, drawn from
around the world, played a stirring "Chariots of Fire" and, of
course, a few spirited bars of "Waltzing Matilda."
Freeman's finale stole the show. Until the last moment, all
Australia wondered who would light the giant flame and how he, or
she, would do it. The choice of an Aborigine and a beloved team
member brought yet another loud cheer.
She wore a stylish white body suit, climbing brilliantly lit
white stairs with the Olympic torch held high. Before her, a
waterfall splashed down a wide aisle from the top of the stadium.
Freeman stood in a shallow pool and touched it with flame. A
great circular cauldron rose up around her. It wobbled and, for
several anxious minutes, it stopped. The glitch fixed, it ascended
to appreciative gasps.
The stainless steel cauldron was fluted to shed water as it rose
from the pool, giving the impression that Freeman was sinking as
the gas flame shot higher.
Ric Birch, director of ceremonies, explained later that he
conceived the idea six years ago and that at least 1,000 people had
kept the details secret. Even with a "slight hiccup," he said, he
was thrilled with it all.
"Wasn't it fantastic?" effused Carol-Angela Orchard, a
Canadian gymnastics coach. "It was brilliant, the mix of fire and
water. It just took my breath away. I was in tears. I mean, how
original is that?"
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ALSO SEE
Koreas march together in opening ceremony
Aborigines applaud IOC on choice of Freeman
Romania drops two weightlifters in latest drug-testing incident
Transportation woes: Cyclist knocked to ground
One million partygoers catch Sydney's 15 minutes of flame
Schedule
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