The celebration of the Olympic Games starting, usually involving thousands of people from the host country of the Games.


Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony

Disembarkation

I got off at Olympic Park station and had a look around. The station was grey and green, looking very modern. When I got to the end of the platform, I took a deep breath of chaos and pushed open the door.

Colour burst out and the sound of 100,000 people talking filled the air. The sky was a perfect Australian blue, the colour that you never get anywhere else. The air was clean and fresh and ibises flew overhead.

There was a long walkway heading towards the entry booths and several tourist tents along the sides selling pins and hats and T-Shirts.

I headed towards the entry booth to the park. I showed as many officials as I could my ticket and, after emptying my pockets into a little plastic tray, went through the metal detectors.

I waited for a while, and a huge stream of marching band members came past, with cymbals, drums, horns, sousaphones and flutes. It kept going for about half an hour, the band was that big. Everyone was wearing blue, white and red Drizabones which looked very hot, but the Opening Ceremony (or the Rehersal) only started when it got dark, so they probably weren't hot at the Rehersal, only now.

Finally, they let us in to the Stadium at 4:00.

Stadium

The Stadium was a increadibly engineered piece of work, looking somewhat like the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House] combined.

The North and South seats wern't covered overhead, which was where I was, but it turned out to be a clear night, so it didn't really matter. There was four sound and light towers, which were as tall as the Stadium itself, and four large screens. Two of the screens were status boards, with a matrix monotone display, and the other two were really big full colour screens. No matter where you were seated, you could always see a status screen and a colour one. The status screen said 'Wave if you are from' and it went through all the countries. Then, as it got dark, they begun.

Welcome

The Opening Ceremony started with about 50 people on horseback, riding in formation to 'The Man from Snowy River' theme. The riders carried Olympic flags, and made the rings of the Olympics.

Deep Sea Dreaming

A little girl lay down in the sun on a beachtowel and started to dream. The whole Stadium looked like it was submerged in water. Jellyfish appeared, and a whole school of little fish ran past.

Hero Girl rose up off the stadium floor and started swimming around. The larger fish came, and started swimming as well. So did the Australian Swimming Team.

Then, the fish all dissapeared.

We are all linked with the Ocean.

Awakening

This was a fantastic Australian Aboriginal segment, with excellent music and traditional dancing. It had representative music and dances from the different regions of the Aboriginal People.

In the last bit the spirits awoke and walked around.

Fire

A rebirth through Fire.

Hundreds of firebreathers sweep through the Stadium, like bushfires. People hanging from wires tumble with fire attached to their feet and in their hands.

Nature

This one has to be seen, but I'll try to describe it anyway. Dancers come out and in formation they make our natural floral life, spinning and going through the seasons.

Arrivals

This deals with immigration into Australia. Floats of people from different countries danced on stage, and joined up to form a picture of Australia.

Hero Girl appears again and sings 'Southern Sky', and the stadium becomes covered in stars.

Tin Symphony

This section delt with country life, machinery and hardships settlers delt with.

Parade of Countries

The marching band came on, and played quite a few pieces in formation, changing shapes and such, and it looked very disiplened. Then the band moved to the side, and kept playing all through the Parade of Countries. The French voice announced the countries, then an Australian said it after. Athletes came out waving and holding flags. The countries were:

  1. Greece
  2. Albania
  3. Algeria
  4. American Samoa
  5. Andorra
  6. Angola
  7. Antigua & Barbuda
  8. Argentina
  9. Armenia
  10. Aruba
  11. Austria
  12. Azerbaijan
  13. Bahamas
  14. Bahrain
  15. Bangladesh
  16. Barbados
  17. Belarus
  18. Belgium
  19. Belize
  20. Benin
  21. Bermuda
  22. Bhutan
  23. Bolivia
  24. Bosnia & Herzegovina
  25. Botswana
  26. Brazil
  27. British Vergin Islands
  28. Bulgaria
  29. Birkina Faso
  30. Burundi
  31. Cambodia
  32. Cameroon
  33. Canada
  34. Cape Verde
  35. Cayman Islands
  36. Central African Republic
  37. Chad
  38. Chile
  39. China
  40. Colombia
  41. Comoros
  42. Congo
  43. Cook Islands
  44. Costa Rica
  45. Cote D'Ivoire
  46. Croatia
  47. Cuba
  48. Cyprus
  49. Czech
  50. Korea
  51. Congo
  52. Denmark
  53. Djibouti
  54. Dominica
  55. Dominican Republic
  56. Equador
  57. Egypt
  58. El Salvador
  59. Equatorial Guinea
  60. Eritrea
  61. Estonia
  62. Ethiopia
  63. Fiji
  64. Finland
  65. Macedonia
  66. France
  67. Gabon
  68. Gambia
  69. Georgia
  70. Germany
  71. Ghana
  72. Great Britain
  73. Grenada
  74. Guam
  75. Guatemala
  76. Guinea
  77. Guinea-Bissau
  78. Guyana
  79. Haiti
  80. Honduras
  81. Hong Kong
  82. Hungary
  83. Iceland
  84. India
  85. Indonesia
  86. Iran
  87. Iraq
  88. Ireland
  89. Israel
  90. Italy
  91. Jamaica
  92. Japan
  93. Jordan
  94. Kazakhistan
  95. Kenya
  96. Korea
  97. Kuwait
  98. Kyrgyzstan
  99. Lao
  100. Latvia
  101. Lebanon
  102. Lesotho
  103. Liberia
  104. Libyan Arab Jamahirya
  105. Liechtenstein
  106. Lithuania
  107. Luxembourg
  108. Madagascar
  109. Malawi
  110. Malasia
  111. Maldives
  112. Mali
  113. Malta
  114. Mauritana
  115. Mauritus
  116. Mexico
  117. Micronesia
  118. Moldova
  119. Monaco
  120. Mongolia
  121. Morocco
  122. Mozambique
  123. Myanmar
  124. Nambia
  125. Nauru
  126. Nepal
  127. Netherlands
  128. Netherlands Antilles
  129. New Zealand
  130. Nicaragua
  131. Niger
  132. Nigeria
  133. Norway
  134. Oman
  135. Pakistan
  136. Palau
  137. Palastine
  138. Panama
  139. Papua New Guinea
  140. Paraguay
  141. Peru
  142. Philippines
  143. Poland
  144. Portugal
  145. Puerto Rico
  146. Qatar
  147. Romania
  148. Russia
  149. Rwanda
  150. Saint Kitts & Nevis
  151. Saint Lucia
  152. Saint Vincent & The Grenadines
  153. Samoa
  154. San Marino
  155. Sao Tome & Principe
  156. Saudi Arabia
  157. Senigal
  158. Seychelles
  159. Sierra Leone
  160. Singapore
  161. Slovakia
  162. Slovenia
  163. Solomon Islands
  164. Somalia
  165. South Africa
  166. Spain
  167. Sri Lanka
  168. Sudan
  169. Suriname
  170. Swaziland
  171. Sweden
  172. Switzerland
  173. Syrian Arab Repbublic
  174. Chinese Taipei
  175. Tajikistan
  176. Tanzania
  177. Thailand
  178. Tongo
  179. Tonga
  180. Trinidad & Tobago
  181. Tunisia
  182. Turkey
  183. Turkmenistan
  184. Uganda
  185. Ukraine
  186. United Arab Emirates
  187. United States of America
  188. Uruguay
  189. Uzbekistan
  190. Vanuatu
  191. Venezuela
  192. Vietnam
  193. Virgin Islands
  194. Yemen
  195. Yugoslavia
  196. Zambia
  197. Zimbabwe
  198. Individual Olympic Athletes
  199. Australia

Lighting of the Cauldron

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