October 2, 2000 – “From the Land Below…”
SYDNEY, Australia – The Olympic torch went out on Sunday night, but the flame will continue to burn in Australia and forever.
At the closing ceremony, outgoing International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch declared that Sydney had produced “the greatest Olympics in history”. For once, he was completely right.
If only the world were this happy, peaceful, friendly, and well-run.
Well done Sydney.
For many ex-convicts, that’s not a bad thing.
Now, the rest of us understand that Australia is more than kangaroos, crocodiles, koalas and Foster’s beer. Australia was always on the map, but at the bottom of the sphere. This continent has risen to the top in the past 17 days. They had a party on Sunday night and everyone came. More than 100,000 people celebrated at the closing ceremony at Olympic Park, and more than a million people rejoiced at Sydney Harbour.
It was the greatest embarrassment in the history of the Southern Hemisphere.
The United States was not very enthusiastic about this Olympics and did not make any adjustments. Maybe it’s because it’s football season, maybe it’s election season, maybe it’s the fall season, maybe the Sydney Olympics telecast will air very late. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t done. Nothing offers more drama than that “Survivor” show.
But not a single person from outside the island was voted in, making the Sydney Olympics the best for the athlete, who had been on the sidelines for nine Olympics. (I’ve always wondered: Would Denver be able to match this? Not likely. Atlanta wasn’t.)
Australia’s Olympics were better than Barbie dolls.
As expected, and as usual since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. team ended up with the most medals (97) and the most blackouts (drug accusations and the usual stupid athlete tricks). But America can be proud of Rulon Gardner. Rulon Gardner is the Wyoming wrestler who pulled off one of the most surprising upsets in Olympic history. A minor league baseball player who beat Cuba. Tara Knott, a University of Colorado graduate, won the nation’s first gold medal in women’s weightlifting. Men’s and Women’s Hoopsters (the players who were supposed to win actually won). Marion Jones won five medals (three gold). Swimmers, including Amy Van Dyken of the Denver area, won 33 medals. Michael Johnson, 400m champion. Everyone else who competed bravely, if not humbly.
Australia had a national hero in Cathy Freeman, the Aboriginal torchbearer and 400m golden girl. And in war-torn East Timor, there were four national heroes who tried, although they failed. Isn’t the Olympics and life all about taking on challenges?
Australia has the ball and they proved they can throw it at the Olympics.
And so Down Under culminated in the climactic closing ceremony. The Olympic Stadium complex was presented with a Styrofoam beer cooler. nice. But the Olympics back then were very cool, and it wasn’t just because of the temperature (although all Summer Olympics should be held in the spring). There were no foul-ups, big or small. There were no bombs, no deaths, no disasters, no meltdowns. There were games that people played. It was smoother than a kangaroo’s belly.
The majority of the 11,000 athletes who took part paraded for an encore, and the Olympic flag was handed over to Athens, Greece, the birthplace of the Olympics and host of the 2004 Summer Olympics. Speeches were followed by floats, situations were followed by pomp, Elle MacPherson was followed by Paul Hogan and Greg Norman, and fun followed.
It’s time to put out the flames.
Sydney had one more surprise in store. Flames shot out from the giant cauldron at the top of the Olympic Stadium, soaring high into the sky (a jet plane is suspected to have been involved), and eventually disappearing into darkness.
Let’s get the party started.
Some of Australia’s most popular singers and musicians performed as players in their warm-up uniforms mingled to form a United Nations conga formation.
Rock group Men at Work sang “Down Under,” and the legendary Slim Dusty (yes, Slim Dusty) ended with “Waltzing Matilda,” Australia’s unofficial national anthem. The new country’s slogan is “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi.”
At the same moment that celebrations ended in suburban Homebush Bay, celebrations began a few miles away on Sydney’s downtown waterfront, with fireworks seen near the equator. The wildness of the masses will spill out into the dawn of today.
No one wanted the Olympics to end, and no one wanted to leave the land of Oz. Australia, once a remote prison for British prisoners, had the best performance at the Olympics.
Australia is still far away, but the world is getting closer and closer.
The Olympic torch will then join the Southern Cross in the sky over Sydney.
Goodbye, friends.
First published: October 2, 2000, 12:01 p.m.
