Everybody agrees it was the greatest Games ever – and it is unlikely to happen again
Matthew Engel Like lovers forced to part, the Olympic movement and Sydney shared one long, lingering embrace on Sunday night before saying farewell. This has only been a 16- day romance, but it has been a peculiarly intense one. And both sides sense that life is never going to be this good again. Just before the flame went out on the 2000 Games at the Olympic stadium, Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, paid tribute to Sydney for producing “the best Games ever”. This is the traditional accolade handed out at closing ceremonies – until 1996, when Samaranch pointedly withheld it as a response to the multiple cock-ups of Atlanta.
This time he added: “They could not have been better,” and thanked Michael Knight, the New South Wales Olympics minister, for producing “a perfect organisation”. This summed up a mood of almost rampant amity and self-congratulation. Only the American TV network, NBC, stuffed out of sight by the huge time difference, has failed to relish these Games. An Olympics in which everything seemed to work concluded in the same vein with an impressive and enjoyable (if under-edited) closing ceremony, climaxing with a fireworks display centred on the harbour bridge. Naturally, this was sensational – even for a city that was already considered the global pyrotechnic HQ. The success of Sydney, however, creates problems for future Olympic hosts. Concern about the progress in Athens, the venue for 2004, is already starting to move to alarm, if not yet panic. There are even far-fetched rumours that Manchester, which is building quasi-Olympic facilities for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, could be asked to step in. With Beijing favourite to get the 2008 games, the chances of anyone reproducing Sydney’s mix of efficiency and enjoyment in the near future seem close to zero. Sydney even managed to incorporate self- deprecation. “Roy and HG”, the TV hosts who made Fatso the Fat-arsed Wombat a more successful Olympic icon than any of the official souvenirs, were brought in to the closing ceremony. They shared the occasion with the handful of well-known Australians who had not been chosen for opening night. These included Paul Hogan, Kylie Minogue, Greg Norman and about 60 Sydney drag queens. In one very nice touch, John Wing was introduced. In 1956 he was a schoolboy who wrote to the organisers and suggested that the closing ceremony should consist of informal mingling rather than formal marching. This idea was accepted and has been a tradition ever since. Visitors have been left awestruck by the efficiency and national effort that have characterised the Sydney Games. Even the rail system has been almost faultless. But much of the secret has been in the efforts of the volunteers, whose efficiency, courtesy, knowledge and kindness have been a breathtaking feature of these Games. One of the Sydney Sunday papers listed them all under the heading “47E000 Heroes”, from Naseem Aadil to Warren Zylstra. Until this week, Athens planned to have only paid staff. Adverts for helpers are now being placed. For many, the sense of being part of this great enterprise may well never be recreated. Counselling organisations are expecting a surge in calls from people who feel suddenly bereft at the loss of purpose.
Sports psychologist George Shilling warned: “The effect could be like the end of World War II. There’s the high emotion, then the realisation that we’ve got to get on with life.”
The real gains and losses for Sydney will take years to assess. The Australian Financial Review predicts that the Olympics will have virtually no effect on the New South Wales economy, and that the frenzy of Olympic investment has merely replaced other activity. But the Olympics can transform countries as well as cities. The games changed the global perceptions of Japan (1964) and South Korea (1988). Los Angeles (1984) helped the United States regain the confidence it lost in Vietnam. Barcelona (1992) was turned into a place that attracted global admiration. On the other hand, Montreal (1976) was almost bankrupted, and the world is still laughing at Atlanta (1996). One suspects Sydney’s mood of glorious self-confidence that has made these Games such a triumph will sustain Australia for years.