Those famous five words delivered 30 years ago today by International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch at 4:27am AEST on Friday 24 September 1993 ignited euphoric scenes across the country.
After the Brisbane 1992 and Melbourne 1996 Olympic bids failed, it was third time lucky as Australia won the rights to host the Games for the second time after previously staging the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.
The bid success also secured the rights for Australia to host its first ever Paralympic Games.
In a tense ballot Sydney emerged victorious, defeating Beijing 45 votes to 43. One less vote would have resulted in Samaranch having to use his casting vote to determine the winning city.
Sydney was never ahead of Beijing until the fourth and final round of voting.
After the first round, Beijing had secured 32 votes to Sydney’s 30 and the Chinese city leapt to 37 votes in the second round when collecting all of Istanbul’s seven votes after it was eliminated in the first round.
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Sydney picked up seven of Berlin’s nine votes when the German city was eliminated in the second round and trailed Beijing 40-37 going into the third round. With Manchester then eliminated, Sydney eventually stormed to victory when earning eight of Manchester’s 11 votes.
Sydney had been the bookmaker’s favourite to win the bid in the years leading to the vote and an international poll of 100 Olympic medallists across seven European countries found 60% preferred Sydney as the host city.
But the Beijing candidacy surged in the final six weeks of bidding, with the Chinese believing they had strong support from Third World country IOC members.
However, a lobbying team consisting of AOC President John Coates, Director-General Perry Crosswhite, former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and his wife Margaret swept through 13 African states in July and August prior to the September vote.
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Whitlam’s presence importantly opened the doors to Prime Ministers, Kings and Foreign Ministers. It was believed this mission secured half of the African votes.
The bid team also picked up key votes in Latin America while Sydney’s green credentials gathered support from the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.
During its final 40-minute presentation to the IOC session, the Australian delegation comprised sporting, political and business heavyweights.
Among several speakers, Annita Keating, the Dutch-born former wife of Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating spoke in four languages, but it was an 11-year old schoolgirl, Tanya Blencowe, from Bangor in southern Sydney, who charmed the IOC delegates with her vivacious, happy speech.
While the Sydney bid was finally triumphant after a whirlwind three-year period following the AOC’s decision in late 1990 to bid for the 2000 Games, the genesis of its success began in 1970, when former Sydney Deputy Lord Mayor, Sir Nicholas Shehadie, arranged a citizen's committee to consider a bid for the 1988 Olympics to coincide with Australia's bicentennial celebrations.
Homebush Bay, in Sydney's inner west, was identified as the preferred location, but the NSW Government torpedoed any formal bid plans after conducting a feasibility study.
In late 1990, the NSW Government had by then warmed to the idea of the Sydney Games and Coates convinced Macquarie Street to build an aquatic centre and an athletics stadium at Homebush while the Federal Government also committed $5 million to the bid.
A key part of Sydney’s winning bid was to underwrite the costs of athletes and officials to attend the Games. This was particularly significant for many small nations as they face substantial costs to fly athletes and officials to Australia to participate. This commitment underlined the bid’s intent that the 2000 Games would be the athletes’ Games.
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After the Games were secured, the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) set about planning and delivering stadia and facilities, which are still used in international competition today.
Crucially, the bid success has led to Australia being one of the top 10 medal Summer Games winning nations ever since and inspired generations of men, women, girls and boys to enjoy the wider health and social benefits sports participation provides while allowing many to chase their elite performance dreams.
In his speech at the Closing Ceremony, Samaranch described Sydney 2000 as “the best Games ever.”
Australia’s Olympic host baton has now been passed on to Brisbane for the 2032 Games, and the lessons and memories of the Sydney 2000 Olympics will provide the bedrock for another magnificent Australian Games.
Greg Campbell