The first Olympics of the New Millennium promises to be the biggest and best yet! Australia is honoured to be the host of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, from 15 September to 1 October, 2000. 

We at Rochedale State School, have a special interest in the Games as one of our teachers, Mrs Monique Miers, a past Olympian, has been chosen to carry the torch on one of its legs and one of our past pupils, Michelle Breckenbridge, has been chosen as a torch bearer escort. As only the second time the Olympics has been to Australia, all of us have a special interest in these Games as a special opportunity to be involved in this great sporting competition.

Ever since Sydney was awarded the right to host to the Games on 23 September, 1993, the people of Australia have joined in the spirit of working to make these Games the most memorable of the modern era. The level of planning and organisation is enormous and has utilised all the resources and modern technology available to us.

Many tasks had to be undertaken by the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG). 

Tasks like  designing and building the stadiums and venues, designing and selling official merchandise, developing the mascots and their stories, designing the SOCOG symbol, planning events timetables, organising media coverage, transporting and housing athletes, judges, media and organisers, ordering and preparing enough food to feed them all, making sure the Games are environmentally friendly and selecting and training tens of thousands volunteers.

The benefits to Australia, of hosting these Games, are obvious and many. Apart from the influx of tourists to Sydney for the Games, Sydney will also benefit from the facilities built specially for the Games like Stadium Australia. 

All venues for the Olympics were designed to be suitable not only for the athletes but for hundreds of thousands of able and disabled spectators, as well.

Other cities like Brisbane are also benefiting from an increased presence of competitors for the Games who have chosen Brisbane, the Gold Coast and other Queensland towns as their base for pre-Olympics training.

Use of technology at these Games will be the most advanced yet, from the development and use of teflon-coated full body suits by our swimmers, to computer technology on a scale unseen before at any Olympics, using around 6 000 computers. Fan Mail programs can send emails to our Olympians and facilities have been set up, for our Olympians to answer mail and have their own pages. People can also send Hero Faxes to their favourite competitor, popular at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and continued and improved upon in 2000.

The Torch for these Olympics is a technological masterpiece, using environmentally friendly gases and able to stay alight in winds of up to 65km/h and in a tropical downpour. On its journey, the torch will need to stay alight as it travels by train, horseback, camel, surf lifesaving boat, ferry, sky rail; and even underwater on the Great Barrier Reef!!