The opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday, 15 September 2000 in Stadium Australia, Sydney, during which the Games were formally opened by then-Governor-General Sir William Deane. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history.
Veteran ceremonies director Ric Birch was the director of ceremonies while David Atkins was the Artistic Director and Producer. Its artistic section highlighted several aspects of Australian culture and history, showing Australia's flora and fauna, technology, multiculturalism, and the hopeful moment of reconciliation towards Aboriginal Australians. The ceremony had a cast of 12,687 performers, seen by a stadium audience of around 110,000.
The ceremony began at 19:00 AEDT and lasted over four-and-a-half hours. Around 3.7 billion viewers worldwide watched the ceremony on TV.
The ceremony was described by the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Juan Antonio Samaranch as the most beautiful ceremony the world had ever seen. Consistent with normal major production management, the music was pre-recorded under studio conditions to ensure its quality.
The stadium's French-language announcer was Pascale Ledeur, while the English-language announcer was Australian actor John Stanton. Ledeur was also the French announcer at the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta 1996 and Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Games.
Preparations As one of the motto's of the games was the "Games of the New Millennium", there was a major reevaluation on how to present the Olympics, which included the ceremonies. In regards to the protocol of the ceremony, there had been incremental changes in the ceremonies format after 1960 Summer Olympics where the Olympic Anthem was readopted, and with the symbolic release of doves starting at 1994 Winter Olympics. For Sydney, the ceremonies producers chose to have the lighting of the cauldron at the end of the ceremony, rather than having it in the middle of the protocol section in previous ceremonies.
The artistic section, where it showed the host countries culture through a separate presentation, gained more prominence since Moscow 1980. The Moscow Opening ceremony was one that Australian director Ric Birch had been personally impressed by. This was the first opening ceremony which showed the host country's national culture through one narrative rather than multiple segments
By 2000, Birch had worked on global events for over 18 years producing high-profile events. He directed the 1982 Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies, and the cultural and the opening ceremonies for World Expo 88, both held in Brisbane. He was also asked to direct and produce some segments for the 1984 and 1992 Summer Olympic opening and closing ceremonies and was involved in Sydney's handover segment at the 1996 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. Birch was hired to produce the ceremonies in September 1993. The idea for the cauldron reveal at the end of the ceremony was planned during the design process of Stadium Australia, as they needed to consider requirements of the water structure of the northern stand and extra supports for the height of the cauldron arc. For the rest of the ceremony, Birch wanted a model where each segment was organised by a specialty director, and was given free artistic reign in their segment as long as it was telling its part of the story. The team of directors were assembled in 1997, with David Atkins as the head Artistic Director and Producer. In August 2000, the organisers announced the eleven main performers, the twenty-one composers and four conductors held in a press conference in Melbourne.
Ahead of the opening of the games, and as testing beds for the content of the ceremonies, the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games developed four Olympic Arts Festivals beginning in 1997. The first festival, the Festival of the Dreaming was established by Rhoda Roberts. The festival was a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture. Roberts was later selected as a segment director for the ceremony. The second festival was A Sea Change, in which artists and companies from Australia and Oceania explored "the influence of the sea on Australian life as a means to explore the changing political and cultural climates in Australia". The third festival, "Reaching the World", took the form of an international tour, showcasing Australian culture. The final festival, the Sydney 2000 Olympics Arts Festival, ran before and during the Olympics, and served as a showcase for the diversity and depth of the arts in Australia.
Officials and guests International Olympic Committee : President Juan Antonio Samaranch and Members of the IOC.
The wife of Juan Antonio Samaranch, María Teresa Salisachs Rowe, was seriously ill and was not able to accompany her husband to the Olympics (she died the following day, from cancer). Therefore, Samaranch invited former Australian Olympic Champion swimmer, Dawn Fraser, to accompany him at the ceremony. Dawn Fraser explained some of the cultural references in the display section to him.
Dignitaries from international organizations : Secretary General Don McKinnon : Secretary General Kofi Annan
Dignitaries : Governor-General of Australia Sir William Deane (representing the Queen of the United Kingdom & Australia) and wife Helen Deane Prime Minister of Australia John Howard and wife Janette Howard Premier of New South Wales Bob Carr SOCOG President Michael Knight former prime minister Gough Whitlam former prime minister Sir John Gorton, Australian golfer Greg NormanSee the video Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony – Full Length, at mark 2:38:36.
Foreign dignitaries & VIPs : Anne, Princess Royal (representing the Queen of the United Kingdom) : Prince Philippe and wife Princess Mathilde (representing the King of Belgium)See the video Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony – Full Length, at mark 1:48:53.
Governor General Adrienne Clarkson (representing Queen of the United Kingdom & Canada) : Prince Henrik Prince Frederik Prince Joachim (representing the Queen of Denmark)See the video Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony – Full Length, at mark 2:05:07.
Prime Minister Konstantinos Simitis (representing the President of Greece) (host country of 2004 Summer Olympics) : Prince Albert (representing the Prince of Monaco) : Grand Duke Jean : Governor General Michael Hardie BoysSee the video Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony – Full Length, at mark 2:43:06. (representing the Queen of the United Kingdom & New Zealand) : President Johnson Toribiong : First Daughter Chelsea Clinton (representing the President of the United States of America), Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Barry McCaffrey Muhammad Ali, Bill GatesSee the video Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony – Full Length, at mark 3:10:49. Mayor of Salt Lake City Rocky Anderson (mayor of host city of 2002 Winter Olympics)
Proceedings Prelude As spectators arrived, they found on their seats a yellow Globite case with Olympic stickers on the front, reminiscent of those that once prevailed in Australian schoolrooms in the 20th century. Inside the case were a pair of green and gold socks, cheer band, a replica of the 2000 Summer Olympics torch, lapel pin, event program, postcard, cards, earplugs, stickers and a Kodak CD-ROM. The torch and cheer band – set with movement-sensitive lights – illuminated the darkened stands during the Fire segment, Arrivals segment and the lighting of the cauldron, while Australian Olympic Team socks appeared prominently on the sea of waving hands during Australia's entry to the stadium.
The Prelude segment lasted an hour before the ceremony started. It was hosted by Seven Network's Sports Commentator David Fordham and news presenter Chris Bath, while seven months pregnant with her first child, live on the northern stage in the stadium. It featured various performances, including a Welcome to Country from the Wangal people, children singing the official Team Welcome Song "G'day G'day", a recognition of the Bidding team and the Olympic volunteers, a recognition from the United Nations of the Olympic Truce, Mexican waves, and a singalong of "Waltzing Matilda" with John Williamson.
Welcome and Anthem
The ceremony began with a countdown composed by Richard Mills performed by Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The large screens counted down from 60 to 1. Starting at 23, footage from previous games appeared on the screens ending with art by Sydney artist Ken Done that read "Opening Ceremony".
The arrival of a lone rider Steve Jefferys, dressed in a drizabone and akubra hat, with his Australian Stock Horse Ammo, galloped into the empty stadium floor reared in the middle of the stadium. Jefferys then cracked his stockwhip, and 120 riders and their Stock Horses entered the stadium performing a "Musical ride " to an arrangement of the main theme of the 1982 film The Man from Snowy River, composed by Bruce Rowland. Each rider held a flag with the Olympic Rings coloured blue. One of the configurations formed the five Olympic Rings. This was a tribute to the heritage of the Australian Stock Horse. Many of its riders were from Scone.
A giant banner painted by Sydney artist Ken Done was unfurled, depicting the Sydney Harbour Bridge in bright colours, saying "G'Day" to the world.
The governor-general Sir William Deane, the prime minister John Howard, and the president of the IOC Juan Antonio Samaranch, arrived after a jazz fanfare was performed by James Morrison and Swing City, his brother's Big Band. The Australian National Anthem, Advance Australia Fair, was then sung by both Human Nature and Julie Anthony, accompanied by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Simone Young. The Stock Horse riders still on the field then swapped their Olympic flags for Australian flags before riding out of the stadium.
Segment director: Ignatius Jones Costume designer: Kristian Fredrikson Graphic designer for G'day Bridge: Ken Done
Artistic section Deep Sea Dreaming The Hero Girl, Nikki Webster arrived in beachwear and basked in the light on a beach. She falls asleep on the beach and drift off into a dream. The performers represented the sea and the various aquatic fauna appear and move around the arena floor. The Hero Girl was then hoisted up in the air by overhead wires and swam with the sea creatures. Other swimmers were also present, being coached (on a large screen) by Australian swimming coach Laurie Lawrence. This was a tribute to the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia.
Segment Director & Choreographer: Meryl Tankard Assistant Director & Choreographer: Steven McTaggart Designer: Dan Potra Costume Designers: Dan Potra and Meryl Tankard
Awakening
The Awakening segment celebrated Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, the world's oldest continuous living culture, dating back at least 60,000 years. A Yolngu elder and songman, Djakapurra Munyarryun, guided the girl through the songlines of connections to the land and the protocols for welcoming others to indigenous land. The segment featured Indigenous Australians from the Central Desert, the Numbulwar, Yirrkala, Ramingining and Manningrida peoples of Arnhem Land, Torres Strait Islanders, and the Koorie clan of NSW. The segment ended when the Wandjina ancestral spirit appears (in the form of a 32-metre-long cloth in the style of a rock art portrait) roaring and flinging a lightning bolt to ignite a bushfire.
Segment Directors: Stephen Page and Rhoda Roberts Designer: Peter England Costume Designer: Jennifer Irwin Choreographers: Stephen Page, Matthew Doyle, Elma Kris and Peggy Misi