Copyright (c) 2000 Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organization

The Olympic Games ushered into the new millennium as Sydney stages the XXVII Olympiad from 15 September to 1 October 2000, and it marked the second time, after Melbourne 1956, that Australia (and especially the continent of Oceania) had hosted this sporting spectacle. These were the final Olympics during the 20-year tenure of Juan Antonio Samaranch as IOC chief; he stood down from the presidency to Jacques Rogge a year later in 2001.

Sydney was selected as the host during the IOC Session at Monaco in 1993, having been chosen over bids from Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul, and Manchester in four rounds of voting. The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) originally contemplated either Melbourne or Brisbane as their preferred bidding host sites, but Sydney gained popular favor amongst then-AOC President John Coates, and others, having never been a host city, as they were the last Australian bidding cities.

Around 10,651 athletes from 199 nations (two more than in Atlanta four years earlier) participated at the Sydney Games, with Eritrea, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau made their debuts, and four athletes from Timor Leste, which later declared independence two years prior, took part as individual athletes while competing under the Olympic flag. At the opening ceremony, the teams from both North and South Korea marched together as a unified team, however, the two Koreas competed separately.

Perhaps, the most enduring figure associated with Sydney 2000 is none other than Aboriginal Australian sprinter Cathy Freeman. She was selected to light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony to symbolize Australia's desire to reconcile the white and Aboriginal populations of the country, and then 10 days later, during the athletics competitions, Freeman won gold in the women's 400m race right in front an ecstatic 112,000-strong crowd who had expected so much of her for so long.

The 2000 Sydney Games received universal acclaim, with the organization, volunteers, sportsmanship, and Australian public being lauded in the international media. On that time, these Games in Sydney stood as the most watched sport event ever; more than 3.6 billion people tuned in to watch, representing a 20% increase over the Atlanta Olympics four years earlier in 1996. Sydney 2000 was broadcast in 220 countries and generated more than 36.1 billion television viewing hours.

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