What was the 2000 Sydney Olympics?

The 2000 Sydney Olympic Games were the 27th Summer Olympics, held in Sydney from 15 September to 1 October 2000. They were the second Australian Olympics (after Melbourne in 1956) and are widely considered one of the most successful Olympic Games ever held. The Games showcased modern multicultural Australia to the world and marked a high point of national confidence and celebration.

Sydney won the bid in 1993, defeating Beijing by two votes in the final round of the International Olympic Committee selection. The seven-year preparation included substantial infrastructure investment: the Olympic Park at Homebush Bay (reclaimed from industrial wasteland) with the main stadium, the aquatic centre, the velodrome, and other venues; expansion of the Sydney suburban rail network; construction of the M4 and M5 motorway connections; and extensive city beautification. Total cost was about 6 billion Australian dollars.

The Games attracted 199 national Olympic committees and about 10,651 athletes competing in 300 events across 28 sports. The opening ceremony on 15 September 2000 featured a celebration of Australian history, landscape, and Indigenous culture, with Yothu Yindi performing and the cauldron famously lit by Cathy Freeman (a Kuku Yalanji woman) in a fitting symbol of Aboriginal-Australian reconciliation. Freeman went on to win the women's 400 metres on 25 September 2000, lapping in the Olympic Stadium before about 112,000 spectators and a global television audience of more than three billion. The image of Freeman draped in both the Aboriginal Flag and the Australian Flag is one of the most iconic in Australian sporting history.

Australia won 58 medals at the Sydney Olympics (16 gold, 25 silver, 17 bronze), placing fourth in the medal tally behind the United States, Russia, and China. Major Australian performances included Freeman's 400m gold, Ian Thorpe's three gold medals in swimming, the Australian women's hockey team's gold (the Hockeyroos), the men's and women's water polo teams, and gold for Susie O'Neill in the 200m butterfly. Beyond sport, the Games produced a positive national mood, with tourism, business, and international recognition all benefiting Sydney and Australia. The IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch described the Games at the closing ceremony as 'the best Olympic Games ever'. The 2032 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in Brisbane, the third Australian Olympic city after Melbourne (1956) and Sydney.