| XI Paralympic Games | |||
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| Host city | Sydney, Australia | ||
| Motto | Performance,Power and Pride | ||
| Nations participating | 127 | ||
| Athletes participating | 3846 (2867 men, 979 women) |
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| Events | 551 in 20 sports | ||
| Opening ceremony | 18 October | ||
| Closing ceremony | 29 October | ||
| Officially opened by | Governor-General William Deane | ||
| Paralympic Torch | Louise Sauvage | ||
| Stadium | Stadium Australia | ||
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The 2000 Paralympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia, from 18 October to 29 October. The eleventh Summer Paralympic Games, an estimated 3800 athletes took part in the Sydney programme. They commenced with the opening ceremony on 18 October 2000. It was followed by the 11 days of fierce international competition and was the second largest sporting event ever held in Australia.
When the Paralympic flag was handed over to Sydney in 1996, the organizers had insisted on the principle that all core services for the Paralympic Games be delivered by the same staff and same team that would deliver services for the Olympic Games. This move paid off. The Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee (SPOC) and the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) were able to capitalize on shared departments and delivered on their promise to create the best possible conditions for elite athletes with a disability. Paralympic and Olympic athletes lived in the same village, and enjoyed the same catering services, medical care and facilities. Ticketing, technology and transport systems for the Olympics were seamlessly extended to the Paralympics.
A record number of 122 countries, or 123 delegations including independent athletes from East Timor, participated at the Sydney Paralympics, making this the largest Games in Paralympic history. The Atlanta 1996 Paralympics had 103 countries competing, and Barcelona 1992 attracted 83 countries. During Games time, the Paralympic Village was home to 6,943 people, comprising 3,824 athletes, 2,315 team officials and 804 technical officials.
From an organizational point of view, the Sydney Paralympics could not have been better. A record number of about 1.2 million tickets were sold, more than double the 500,000 for Atlanta 1996. About 2,300 media representatives were on-site to cover the Games. The Games set a new precedent in webcasting, with the public being able to watch some 100 hours of Paralympic competitions through WeMedia's video streaming service on the Internet. Users across 103 countries logged in to catch the webcast. The official Games website attracted an estimated 300 million hits during Games time.
The mascot for the 2000 Paralympics was "Lizzie" the Frill-necked Lizard.[1]
Australian artist Jeffrey St. John sang "Advance Australia Fair" and "The Challenge" at the Opening Ceremony.
Kylie Minogue sang "Waltzing Matilda" and "Celebration" at the Opening Ceremony.
Other performers included Nathan Cavaleri, Melissa Ippolito, Bryan Brown, Taxiride, Billy Thorpe, Jack Thompson, Renee Geyer, Tina Harris and Christine Anu.
Australian country artist Graeme Connors sang his song 'Being Here', which was specially written for the event.
The Australian group, The Seekers, sang their hit song "The Carnival Is Over" as the finale to the Closing Ceremony. Judith Durham, who had a broken hip, sang from a wheelchair.
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The Torch Relay Program's objectives were to develop a route and an event which would help maintain momentum between the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games, promote the Paralympic Games and encourage ticket purchases. It was also to safely deliver the Paralympic flame to the Opening Ceremony.
While the relay visited each Australian capital city, it also focused strongly on Sydney and the surrounding region, as this was the main catchment area for ticket sales.
The Paralympic Torch Relay succeeded in generating community and media support for the Games, with crowds in many areas and significant crowds lining the Sydney metropolitan route in the final two days of the relay.
The event, which commenced with a lighting ceremony at Parliament House, Canberra on 5 October 2000, involved 920 torchbearers, each of whom carried the flame an average of 500 metres. After visiting each capital city (except Sydney) by air, the relay travelled in New South Wales (NSW) from Moss Vale through the Southern Highlands, Illawarra, Campbelltown, Penrith, Windsor, Hunter and Central Coast areas before heading to Sydney.
Highlights included:
The games included 550 separate events in 19 sports. For the first time, women's events were included in the powerlifting program and wheelchair rugby, a demonstration sport at the 1996 Paralympics, was contested as a medal-awarding sport.[2]
Sporting performances were of an unprecedented standard. With 550 gold medals to be won, the 18 events on the Sydney 2000 Paralympic program brought forth more than 300 world and Paralympic records. British wheelchair athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson crowned a distinguished career by winning four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m races in her disability category. Jason Wening, a double below-the-knee amputee swimmer from the United States, won his third consecutive gold medal in the 400m freestyle, breaking his own world record in the process. Wening has not been beaten in the 400m in his category since 1991, when he first broke the world record. Sydney 2000 marked the first-time participation of female athletes in powerlifting, and it was a debut to remember. Seven world records tumbled within the space of two hours. Jianxin Bian of China and Fatma Omar of Egypt took the first two gold medals in women's powerlifting. Wheelchair rugby, a demonstration event at Atlanta 1996 and now a full-medal sport at Sydney 2000, became an instant crowd-puller. The USA edged out Australia 32-31 in a closely fought final to take the gold medal. Host country Australia eventually topped the medal table with 63 gold, 39 silver and 47 bronze. Great Britain was next with 41 gold, 43 silver and 47 bronze. Then came Spain with 39 gold, 30 silver and 38 bronze.
A total of 1657 medals were awarded during the Sydney games: 550 gold, 549 silver, and 558 bronze. The host country, Australia, topped the medal count with more gold medals and more medals overall than any other nation. Great Britain took the most silver medals, with 43, and tied Australia for the most bronze medals, with 47.[5]
In the table below, the ranking sorts by the number of gold medals earned by a nation (in this context a nation is an entity represented by a National Paralympic Committee). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals.
Host country (Australia)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia (AUS) | 63 | 39 | 47 | 149 |
| 2 | Great Britain (GBR) | 41 | 43 | 47 | 131 |
| 3 | Canada (CAN) | 38 | 33 | 25 | 96 |
| 4 | Spain (ESP) | 38 | 30 | 38 | 106 |
| 5 | United States (USA) | 36 | 39 | 34 | 109 |
| 6 | China (CHN) | 34 | 22 | 17 | 73 |
| 7 | France (FRA) | 30 | 28 | 28 | 86 |
| 8 | Poland (POL) | 19 | 23 | 11 | 53 |
| 9 | South Korea (KOR) | 18 | 7 | 7 | 32 |
| 10 | Germany (GER) | 16 | 41 | 38 | 95 |
One-hundred and twenty-three delegations participated in the Sydney Paralympics. Included among them was a team of "Individual Paralympic Athletes" from East Timor. The newly independent country had not yet established a National Paralympic Committee, so the International Paralympic Committee invited East Timorese athletes to compete at the games under the title of Individual Paralympic Athletes.[6]
Barbados, Benin, Cambodia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guinea, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Niger, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, Sudan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Vanuatu and Vietnam, who had not participated in the Atlanta Games, competed in Sydney.[7]
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, multiple Paralympic gold medallist for Great Britain, later said of the Sydney Games:
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