As Australia, and especially Sydney, goes into sentimental nostalgic lookbacks at the 2000 Olympics held at this time 10 years ago, here are some of my reminiscinces of Australia during September 2000. I don't think many of these will be mentioned in featured articles and reports in the Australian media
- TVs everywhere! There was no way of missing the Olympic action because TVs were even brought into shops and workplaces. There were 8 alone in our office.
- The failed major ad campaign for the post-Olympics season of Home and Away. Word spread by the end of the Olympics that the big twist to happen was Ailsa was going to die in a fire.
- Australia hated Marie-José Pérec, Catherine Freeman's main competitor. She was forced out of the country due to the pressure.
- For a certain group of Aussies not so interested in the Olympics (i.e. traitors), one of the cable stations had a Simpsons marathon showing all 300 or so episodes up until then in chronological order. Friends mentioned that they were able to watch episodes that they never knew even existed. It took 16 days, 24 hours a day to show them all, the exact same time the Olympics was on.
- Disaster reporting before the Olympics. The Australian media relished reporting about the many scandals (remember the wrong size tickets?), budget blow-outs and corruption. The games were going to be a disaster. All of it was perfect fodder for the brilliant Australian comedy series The Games, starring 'the voice of Australia', NZ-born John Clarke and Gina Reiley (Kim from Kath & Kim). Here's a clip!
I'm a bit surprised that we haven't heard of any scandals (to the same extent as Sydney's) being attributed so far to London's preparations. I suspect very good PR here could be the case.
- The great travel deals to be had to leave Sydney during the Olympics
- For years before the Olympics, all of central Sydney's pavements were dug up and fixed. You couldn't walk around the city centre.
- Aussies thrilled to have scored tickets to see any event, even if it meant a qualifier between Guinea-Bissau and Slovakia in the women's handball, and having no idea where is Guinea-Bissau or Slovakia or what is women's handball.
But the best memory goes to Australian comedians Roy and HG and their nightly Olympic show 'The Dream'. They provided a much needed respite from the hype and jingoism to satirically use the hype and jingoism to make fun of hype and jingoism. They raised the ire of the International Olympic Committee and the Sydney Olympic organisers when they introduced a new, unauthorised Olympic mascot called 'Fatso the big-arsed Wombat' who became far more popular than the official mascots Syd, Ollie and (who Roy and HG rechristened) Dickhead. They also made their own new Gymnastic terms, so popular that many Aussies to this day only know the moves by the Roy and HG terminology (flatbags, hello boys, etc.). Every night finished with the campest and most satirical display of actually rejected Olympic songs, some of which sung by their composers. Hilarious! To get Roy and HG, you have to understand the nature and discourse of your average sports commentator, complete with underlying racism, parochialism, homoeroticism, mysogny, self-importance and lack of reason. Once you get that, they are geniuses in what they do. Here are some clips...
Gymnastics commentary
Roy and HG diving commentary
Roy and HG with Fatso
The final 5 minutes of Roy and HG's The Dream. I was sad watching this that it was coming to an end.
And how did others remember the Olympics? Sydney's highest circulating newspaper, the Murdoch-owned Daily Telegraph has this photo gallery of 46 photos of the 'best remembered moments'. It says a lot when all but three of photos of Australia's biggest ever international event feature only Australians (athletes and people in the opening ceremonies), while the three pictures of non-Australians are two of Michael Johnson and one of the now-disgraced Marion Jones, both of the USA. And I must not forget that 2 of photos feature no other than our Dear Leader, John Howard, and Lady Macbeth herself, Jeanette Howard! Good grief!!!
Surprisingly, no Fatso the big-arsed wombat!
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