2000 Summer Olympics

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was the second time that the Summer Olympics were held in the Southern Hemisphere, the first one being in Melbourne, Victoria in 1956. These were the first games since the Seoul games to be conducted during the Northern Hemisphere autumn season (which the city was actually during the Southern Hemisphere spring season), joining the aforementioned Melbourne games (which were held during the Southern Hemisphere summer), the Tokyo games (conducted in October 1964), the Mexico City Games (conducted in October 1968), and the Seoul games.

The Games received near-universal acclaim, with the organisation, volunteers, sportsmanship and Australian public being lauded in the international media. Bill Bryson from The Times called the Sydney Games "one of the most successful events on the world stage", saying that they "couldn't be better". James Mossop of the Electronic Telegraph called the Games in an article "such a success that any city considering bidding for future Olympics must be wondering how it can reach the standards set by Sydney", while Jack Todd in the Montreal Gazette suggested that the 'IOC should quit while it's ahead. Admit there can never be a better Olympic Games, and be done with it", as "Sydney was both exceptional and the best". In preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Lord Sebastian Coe declared the Sydney games the "benchmark for the spirit of the Games, unquestionably" and admitting that the London organising committee "attempted in a number of ways to emulate what did."