Saturday, October 7, 2000

The Olympic Games Snapshots

When we booked tickets for the Olympic Games we:

  • Planned our events so we would only need to take two days of leave
  • Chose the baseball and softball because it was close to home (about half an hour's travel)

Unfortunately, Melbourne is not close to Sydney. We had to take two weeks of leave and it was a three-hour trip out to the baseball and softball venues.

For a different view of the Olympic Games, read Tony's columns for Freeonline.

This is Olympic Boulevard, the main road that runs through the Olympic site at Homebush Bay.
Everyone at the Opening Ceremony received a bag with stickers, lights and a programme.
This was the Nature segment depicting the unique flora and fauna in Australia.

We were sitting in the second row from the front, one section away from the "stage". Unfortunately we had a camera crew in front of us most of the night. Luckily I have become proficient at cropping digital photos and removing heads!

The Tin Symphony segment looked at the pioneers of our country and showed Ned Kelly's distinctive armour as depicted by the artist, Sidney Nolan.
This picture shows Debbie Flintoff-King handing the torch to Cathy Freeman.

This is the view a certain 1.52m (5 ft) person had from the second row.

The shoulder on the left is the man beside me, the shoulder on the right is the man in the front row.

We all had to stand for the torch relay. I didn't even have a clear view of the big screen!

Cathy Freeman after lighting the Olympic Flame. The Olympic flame was paused for dramatic effect, that is, stuck.
I call this "the Hill of Photographers". The hill was just outside the main Olympic site and we were intrigued because of the number of photographers we saw on top of the hill.
This is the Super Dome as seem from the Hill of Photographers. In the foreground, on the left, is a fountain. The blue towers line Olympic Boulevard and the flame burns at the top of the Olympic Stadium.
We attended a preliminary round of the softball and saw New Zealand and Cuba, and then Australia and Japan. We sat right behind the home plate where spectators are protected by a net. Before the game starts, the teams exchange small gifts, as the Australian and Japanese teams are doing in this photo.
From the southern carpark pedestrians walked across a bridge with steam "flags". This artwork was called "The Luminous Threshold".
We saw the medal events of the mixed badminton, women's doubles table tennis and the handball. This is the bronze medal women's double match between Korea and Denmark. Unfortunately, doubles table tennis is a bit too fast to watch at competition level - rallies did not last long. The fun thing was watching them retrieve the ball (just like we do at home) and all the hand signals beneath the table.

Korea won bronze. China won gold and silver.

Because the gymnastics events were sold out, tickets were sold to the practice sessions. Each team had an hour to practice their routines. I think this is the Spanish rhythmic gymnastics team.
We had great seats at the handball - second row from the court. Syd came out to practice with the Yugoslavians.
This is the gold medal handball match between Sweden and Russia.

Imagine this is a pool instead of a court. The best description I can give of handball is that it is like water polo without the water.

To get a goal, players launch themselves from the edge of the goal area where only the goal keeper is allowed. This is a photo after the player has landed and the ball is on its way to the other end of the court.
Spain won the bronze medal in the Mens' handball. A partner of one of the players was sitting directly in front of us so we got a good look at the medal and the bouquet.

Does Juan seem a little bored with the ceremony?

It's been a long and busy two weeks.

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