World

The Games Begin

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 15, 2000 / 9:02 AM EDT / CBS

The biggest Olympic Games in history and first games of the 21st Century are underway. Australia's Governor-General Sir William Deane announced, "I declare open the Games of Sydney celebrating the XVII Olympiad," as he formally began the planet's biggest sports spectacle.

More than 10,000 athletes from nearly 200 teams marched into the new Olympic stadium at the exuberant opening ceremony and some 110,000 spectators belted out "Waltzing Matilda," Australia's unofficial anthem, and cheered as a huge banner unfurled above the audience with the words, "G'day," Australia's trademark greeting.

Sportsmen, sportswomen and spectators watched Australian Aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman ignite the cauldron to mark the opening of the 17-day sports extravaganza. She is the world 400 meters champion and Australia's best hope for a gold medal. Her identity as the final torchbearer in the relay that began in Athens, Greece, had been a closely guarded secret until the very last minute.

For the first time, athletes from cold war enemies North and South Korea marched together under a banner as just Korea. They wore identical uniforms and held hands as they received warm standing ovation.

Host team Australia arrived to cheers from the crowd including Australian professional golfer Greg Norman and publishing magnate Rupert Murdoch.

The 600 strong U.S. team entered sporting cowboy hats and bandanas. They brought luminaries from the United States to their feet including Muhammad Ali, Bill Gates, cabinet member Donna Shalala and first daughter Chelsea Clinton.

Nearly thirteen thousand performers took part in the opening musical pageant celebrating Australian history and culture. It included real and mythic characters from the nation's past. Organizers said they structured it to show off both Australia's best and darkest chapters including its origins as a penal colony and centuries-long subjugation of its indigenous aborigines.

A few shadows have clouded the opening of the games. For the first time, the oath that competitors recite at the ceremonies included a promise to compete "without doping and without drugs."

Just hours before opening ceremony U.S. drug chief Barry McCaffrey said the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) has tested more that 2,000 athletes in various sports and turned up several positive results. Twenty of them are suspected of being positive for banned drugs but so far only one athlete has been officially declared positive. He's British cyclist Neil Campbell and he has been dropped from the British Olympic team.