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Games of the XXVII Olympiad: Sydney 2000

Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics

Last modified: 2023-06-10 by zachary harden
Keywords: olympic games | sydney | greece | athens | australia | australia aboriginal | torres strait islanders | uno | atlanta |
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image by Zach Harden, 26 June 2001

• The Olympic flag
• A two-colour version of the Olympic flag.
• Olympic banners
• Flags Manual 2000 Sydney Olympics
• Sydney 2000 Applicant City Flag
• Sources

See also:

• Candidate Cities
• The Parade of Flags
• The 19th Olympic Winter Games: Salt Lake City 2002
• Games of the XXVIII Olympiad: Athens 2004
• International Olympic Committee / Comité International Olympique
• Olympics - General index
• The Flags of the City of Sydney
• Olympic Flags (Germany)

Other sites:

• Official website of Sydney 2000
• International Olympic Committee Website

image by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, July 2005.
Flag adopted: 1914.

The Olympic flag was visible everywhere. It was hoisted in the Stadium for the duration of the game, it was flown at each Olympic event, in the Olympic Village, and all over Sydney. And finally, during the Closing Ceremony the Seoul flag was passed on to the Mayor of Athens, where the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad will be held in 2004.
{1}

image by Mark Sensen, recoloured by Ivan Sache, 16 September 2000

The Opening Ceremony of Sydney 2000 began with a group of 120 horsemen bearing flags riding into the stadium. The riders formed a series of patterns, with flags flying, among which the Olympic Rings. Their flags were two-coloured Olympic flags: A Blue Olympic Symbol on a White field. {3}

While I was looking for information about the flag of Liverpool City (NSW, AU), about which, according to the minutes of a meeting in March 2000, a Victor Lampe was going to investigate something and provide information to a Mr Durrant, I came across something about the Olympic Banners that were all over Sydney this time last year. Personally, I don't consider them flags, but since we discussed them then, from http://www.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/council/press/2000/17ajul.htm (17 July 2000):

As part of Liverpool City Council's effort to celebrate the Games in Liverpool, a number of Olympic Banners have been purchased to decorate selected streets of the Liverpool CBD. Liverpool Council is giving local businesses the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Banner Program by becoming an Olympic Banner Sponsor.
The design of the flags was inspired by the vitality of the Australian environment and its people, elegant swirling shapes and concentric forms suggest the vibrant waters of Sydney Harbour. Australian landscape forms and the energy of fire is also apparent in the design. The design suggests flickering flames and the "heat haze" effect often experienced in rural and urban areas of Australia. They are symbolic of the passion demanded for Olympic competition and streamlines, fluid movement of the athletic body in action.

I think quite a few flagpoles were erected around Sydney specifically for these banners. In suburban areas, they are now generally occupied by local council banners or Centenary of Federation banners of a similar nature.

{4}

Trying to find out something about the flags manual at the 2000 Sydney Olympics I realized that such a manual is available for consulting only in some Australian libraries, not for sale so far. If any one is able to take a look on them a get the book scanned the FOTW community would be really thankful.
http://books.google.com.mx/books/about/Flag_Manual.html?id=THm-XwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
http://newcatalogue.library.unisa.edu.au/vufind/Record/567361
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/934059
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 10 February 2014

Sydney 2000 Applicant City Flag

image by Zachary Harden, 9 August 2021

At http://www.ebay.com/itm/301198078830 a flag of Olympic applicant city Sydney 2000. I've seen this logo depicted on flag pins: Crossed flags showing a sponsor of Sydney's bid on one flag and the applicant city flag as the other. This, however, is the first time I see an actual flag.
Ad description: "This original Sydney 2000 Olympic Flag is a rare collectable item in brand new condition, never used. The size is 1700/800mm screen-printed on 600D woven bunting material - Defence  Force Grade." The dimensions of 17x8dm would mean the flag is longer than 1:2.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 30 May 2014

The flag is the logo on a white field: "SYDNEY 2000" in black below and left of a brush stroke resembling four arches of the Sydney Opera House in blue (top left of logo), black, red, yellow and green (bottom right), with white (on black) and black (on red) dots softening the transition between black and red, and similarly yellow and red dots on the red/yellow, and green/yellow dots on the yellow/green.
The shape, as mentioned, is the Opera House, the colours those of the Olympic flag, and the dots presumably intended to resemble an indigenous art style.
[I don't have to explain the text, but in the unlikely event that the Sydney CBD wanted to follow Windale and have a locality flag complete postcode, then this design may find a new use.]
I don't remember any details of how widely flags like those being sold on ebay were flown at the time of the bid, however:
1) Paper hand-wavers in this design (with logo printed in the same orientation on both sides) were ubiquitous at bid events.
2) At 4:17 in a video from the time now on Youtube, you see a flag on the Harbour Bridge with same logo and also the Olympic rings underneath.
Jonathan Dixon, 30 May 2014

Are you saying Sydney Central Business District has post code 2000? (No wonder that they had all these sponsors, even as an applicant city. (Curiously, while I don't recall you giving that description, I do recall that shot. Then again, it's probably a popular shot and may have been repeated with different flags.)

I think at the time applicant cities were already barred from using the Olympic rings, which would suggest that this is the Candidate City flag.
The design is visible slightly earlier in the video as well. No doubt that same skilled GIFfer would be able to use it to draw a candidate flag from.
Slightly before that,  http://youtu.be/pKUzhu8kQDE?t=3m44s, the match of the logo with the silhouette of the Opera House is shown briefly.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 30 May 2014

image by Zachary Harden, 9 August 2021

There is a third variant of this candidature flag where the text "SYDNEY 2000" was removed and the Olympic Rings were kept.
Zachary Harden, 9 August 2021

Sources:

1 International Olympic Committee Website, July 2000
2 Olympic Charter - International Olympic Committee, 12 December 1999
3 Ivan Sache, 16 September 2000
4 Jonathan Dixon, 30 August 2001.

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