Venues of the 2000 Summer Olympics

ANZ Stadium in 2009. From 1999 to 2002, it was known as Stadium Australia. The stadium hosted opening and ceremonies, athletic, and the football final for the 2000 Summer Olympics.

For the 2000 Summer Olympics, a total of thirty sports venues were used. After Melbourne hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics, Australia made several bids for the Summer Olympics before finally winning the 2000 Summer Olympics by two votes over Beijing, China. Venue construction were set at the Homebush Bay area of Sydney in an effort to rehabilitate the land. Environmental studies of the area in the early 1990s forced remediation to be used for about a fifth of the site selected. Fifteen new venues were constructed for the Games. During the games, 137 cars were removed from the streets of Sydney before the start of the women's marathon while the last day of the canoe sprint finals were delayed six hours to heavy winds at the Regatta Centre. Many of the venues used for the 2000 Games continue to be in use as of 2010.

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Venues

Sydney Olympic Park

Sydney

Outside Sydney

Before the Olympics

The Dunc Gray Velodrome in 2008. For the 2000 Summer Olympics, it hosted the track cycling events.

Australia first hosted the Summer Olympics in 1956 at Melbourne. The main venue used was the Melbourne Cricket Ground which hosted the ceremonies (opening/closing), athletic events, and the finals for both field hockey and football.^[28]

Sydney first made preliminary plans for the 1972 and 1988 Summer Olympics, but they were not followed through. Melbourne made a bid for the 1988 Summer Games, but withdrew in February 1981. Brisbane made a bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics, losing out to Barcelona while Melbourne finished fourth in the bidding for the 1996 Summer Olympics won by Atlanta. The first serious review for Sydney as an Olympic city took place in 1973 on rehabilitating the Homebush Bay area as an Olympic site though those plans were not taken seriously until seven years later when Sydney was making a preliminary bid for the 1988 Summer Games. Nick Greiner, who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1988 to 1992, led the effort to use the Olympics as a catalyst for rehabilitating Homebush Bay, forming a review committee on this in 1989. The Australian Olympic Committee endorsed this idea provisionally in December 1990 and officially three months later.^[29]

In the bid package submitted to the International Olympic Committee for Sydney, all of the venues would be located within 30 minutes of the Homebush Bay Area where the Sydney Olympic Park would be constructed.^[30] Sydney was selected 45-43 over Beijing in the fourth round of exhaustive voting to host the 2000 Games at the 23 September 1993 IOC Meeting in Monte Carlo.^[31]

For site selection, 760 ha (1,900 acres) of Homebush Bay was selected for use though the area was not planned upon completion until 2010. Sydney's selection to host the 2000 Summer Olympics changed this. The States Sports Centre opened in 1984 and Bicentennial Park opened four years later. The Sydney International Aquatic Centre and Sydney International Athletic Centre were completed in 1994, but by 1995, it was determined by the Sydney Olympic Organizing Committee that venue construction needed to be accelerated.^[32] In 1995, Bob Carr was elected as New South Wales Premier with one of his first task was to develop a masterplan for venue construction. A plan was approved in February 1996 along with lessons learned from 1996 Summer Olympics led to modification of the plan in February 1997. Environmental consideration was taken during site selection and construction, including the planting of 16,000 trees around completed venues once construction was completed.^[33] Soil and water testing at Homebush Bay in the early 1990s determined that 9,000,000 m³ (320,000,000 cu ft) of domestic, commercial, and industrial waste was located on 160 ha (400 acres) of the land, resulting in remediation.^[34] Other items involved at the venues were the removal of electrical transmission lines, the development of rail lines near the venues, the construction of a new ferry wharf, and construction of vehicular parking sites.^[35]

Fifteen new venues were under construction by 1995 with all of them being completed in 1999. Temporary venues were added for beach volleyball and women's water polo in 2000 prior to the Olympics. 40,000 people were involved in venue construction for the Games.^[36]

Olympic Stadium was constructed on the site of a cattle stockyard before they were sent to the slaughterhouse. Construction was delayed twice before commencing in earnest in September 1996. The stadium was completed in March 1999 and officially opened to the public three months later.^[37] The Sydney Showground was first used in 1882 as part of the Sydney Royal Easter Show, but was starting to show its age by the 1970s. Renovation of the Showground began in October 1997 and were completed for the 1998 Royal Easter Show.^[38] The NSW Tennis Centre was constructed on a former home of the Australian Jockey Club from 1841 to 1869.^[39] The Sydney International Regatta Centre was constructed near a quarry in the Penrith suburb of Sydney, opening in July 1995 with competition starting eight months later.^[40] Penrith Whitewater Stadium was constructed following pleas to the IOC from the International Canoe Federation and French President Jacques Chirac after the sport was nearly excluded from the games. Pumps totalling 14,000 L (3,700 US gal) per second delivered the amount of whitewater needed for the slalom canoeing events at Penrith.^[41] Holsworthy Barracks was the original site for the Sydney International Shooting Centre, but that was changed to the site not being available. This resulted in the organizers renovating an existing shooting range to meet International Shooting Sport Federation standards, a renovation that took eighteen months to complete.^[42] Bondi Beach was constructed as a temporary venue between March and November 2000 and took up less than twenty percent of the beach area used.^[43]

Test events at the venues ran from September 1998 to August 2000.^[44]

During the Olympics

For the 2000 Summer Olympics, the Sydney Opera House hosted the triathlon events. This picture was taken in 2005.

Before the start of the women's marathon, street personnel in Sydney had to tow 137 cars that were parked along the course. Japan's Naoko Takahashi won the event.^[45]

Canoe sprint events on the last day of the Games at the Regatta Centre were delayed for six hours up to 50 mph (80 km/h) wind gusts. The Regatta Center also had lane markers that were damaged and an official's aluminum dinghy sinking.^[46] Eight days earlier, they were witness in the rowing men's coxless fours final about Great Britain's Steve Redgrave winning a gold medal in his fifth straight Olympics.^[47]

The endurance course of the equestrian eventing competition led to the hospitalization of two riders and four horses being jured, including one that was subsequently put to death.^[48] Meanwhile, the individual jumping final was held in the midst of high winds that forced volunteers to hold down some of the top rails until a rider approached.^[49]

After the Olympics

The Olympic Stadium, now known as ANZ Stadium, continues to be of use as of 2012, though with a reduced capacity of 83,500. The stadium was re-configured after the games making it suitable for rectangular pitch and oval ground sports with the removal of the athletics track and the use of retractable seating. For sport, the stadium is used for regular season National Rugby League games and the NRL Grand Final. It also hosts State of Origin home games for the NSW Blues, and Rugby Union test matches involving the Wallabies. In a deal that currently runs from 2009 until 2015, the stadium will also host all home finals for the NSW Waratahs in the Super Rugby competition (the Waratah's normally play at the Sydney Football Stadium). It is also used for the Big Bash League Twenty20 cricket games. ANZ also plays host to various concerts.^[50]

The SuperDome, now known as Allphones Arena, continues to plays host to numerous concerts, award nights and sporting events as of 2012. It has hosted National Basketball League games, ANZ Championship netball and international netball games involving the Australian Netball Diamonds. In 2001 the arena played host to the Tennis Masters Cup. The arena also plays host to world championship boxing, Mixed martial arts (used as a venue by the UFC), and is usually the Sydney venue used on tours of Australia by the WWE.^[51]

Blacktown Olympic Park plays host to competitions for cricket, Australian Rules football, soccer, softball, and baseball, with the Australian Football League's GWS Giants based there (the GWS Giants, a new team for 2012, actually play at the ANZ Stadium and will move games to the Sydney Showground, though they are based at Blacktown OP). The GWS Giants new home base is also used in the AFL's pre-season NAB Cup competition.^[52]

Penrith Whitewater Stadium hosted the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in 2005.^[53]

The Sydney Entertainment Centre, which opened in 1983, continues to be in use as of 2012, hosting numerous concerts and conventions. The SEC is also the home arena for the Sydney Kings in the National Basketball League, and occasionally plays host to both national senior basketball teams, the Boomers (men) and the Opels (women).

The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre remained in use until it closed in December of 2013, and was demolished in 2014 to make way for the new Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct at Darling Harbour, which is due for completion by the end of 2016.^[54]

Sydney Football Stadium, which was an existing stadium that opened in 1988, continues to be in use as of 2012 by the NRL (including finals), A-League (including finals), and Super Rugby. The SFS also hosts various concerts, as well as other sporting events such as boxing.

The Homebush Street Circuit for the V8 Supercars has used the former Olympic precinct since 2009. The circuit was designed by former multiple Australian Touring Car Champion and Bathurst 1000 winner Mark Skaife.

References