AUSTRALIA: THOUSANDS CELEBRATE THE START OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Record ID: 912897

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: THOUSANDS CELEBRATE THE START OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES
  • Date: 17th September 2000
  • Summary: MORE OF CROWD WITH ILLUMINATED OLYMPIC RINGS IN BACKGROUND
  • Embargoed: 6th July 2005 20:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA9VD53SHA998E4JXPHPJAH2DXU
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Tens of thousands of people across Sydney have been celebrating the start of the Sydney 2000 Games.
    Meanwhile a small band of anti-Olympics protesters failed to draw any crowds to their cause as tens of thousands of visitors thronged into Olympic Park for the Opening Ceremony.
    It was one of the most breathtaking steps in the longest journey an Olympic torch has ever made, Australian athlete Samantha Riley scaled one of the world's most recognised icons, the Sydney Opera House, Olympic flame in hand.
    No small feat for a woman who openly admits to a fear of heights.
    Thousands of spectators lined the foreshore to watch the flame pass over the Opera House, and Riley stood for some minutes on the top of the structure holding the torch aloft as the crowds cheered and applauded.
    As darkness fell, tens of thousands of Sydneysiders and tourists alike filled the city streets to watch the opening ceremony on huge screens.
    Massive Olympic rings shone over the central business district as spectators thronged every available space for a glimpse of the action.
    Painted faces, sheathed in Australian flags and in bush hats peered out of the crowd.
    Elsewhere in Sydney, a small group of protesters opposed to the Olympic Games failed to win support for their cause.
    The 40-strong band who said they opposed the Olympics because it whitewashed other issues, such as the indigenous cause, went all but unnoticed from Olympic tourists.
    One disgruntled demonstrator said: "This Olympic thing is a big circus which is distracting everyone and keeping people from the real issues.
    "Peoples' rights to demonstrate are being stifled and scared off by all these military scare tactics and all this stuff."
    Police officers made sure the protest did not escalate but there was little cause for concern.
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