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Games of the XXVII Olympiad: Sydney 2000

Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics

by Zach Harden, 26 June 2001.

The Olympic flag
A two-colour version of the Olympic flag.
Olympic banners
The Greek flag
The Parade of Flags
The Australian flag
The Aboriginal flag and the Torres Straight Islanders flag
The flag of the United Nations
Sources

See:

See also:

Other sites:

The Olympic flag:

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}

A two-colour version of the Olympic flag

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}

Olympic banners

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}

The Greek flag

by Edward Mooney

At each Opening Ceremony the first flag to enter the stadium in the Parade of Flags is the flag of Greece. And at each Closing Ceremony, when the Olympic flag is passed on to the next host of the Olympic Games a Greek flag is hoisted to symbolize their past. But at Sydney 2000 something unique did happen: The flag hoisted to symbolize the future of the Olympic Games was likewise a Greek flag, since Athens will be the next host of the Olympic Games.
{1, 2}

The Parade of Flags

During the Openings Ceremony all the teams paraded into the stadium behind their flags, and during the Closing Ceremony the flags did so once more. The flags and teams paraded in alphabetical order according to the language of the host country, except for Greece as the origin of the Olympic Games which always leads the parade, and Australia as the host country which closed the parade. The flags themselves all have the same size, and all have the ratio 2:3. For the flag of Nepal, which isn't rectangular, this ratio is used for the hoist and the bottom.
The millions watching the Opening Ceremony saw the flags and athletes enter the stadium in this order:

See: Page with flags. Warning! This page contains more than 200 images

Sources:
	Codes:		International Olympic Committee Website
	Text:		Rob Raeside and Juan Manuel Gabino. 
			Names got directly from the Opening Ceremony 
			(September 15, 2000).


     Country (English)				     ABR.    
------------------------------------------------------------

 Greece						GRE		
 Albania					ALB		
 Algeria					ALG		
 American Samoa					ASA					
 Andorra					AND		
 Angola						ANG		
 Antigua and Barbuda				ANT						
 Argentina					ARG				
 Armenia					ARM		
 Aruba						ARU		
 Austria					AUT		
 Azerbaijan					AZE				
 Bahamas					BAH			
 Bahrain					BRN			
 Bangladesh					BAN				
 Barbados					BAR				
 Belarus					BLR			
 Belgium					BEL		
 Belize						BIZ		
 Benin						BEN		
 Bermuda					BER			
 Bhutan						BHU		
 Bolivia					BOL		
 Bosnia and Hercegovina				BIH						
 Botswana					BOT				
 Brazil						BRA			
 British Virgin Islands				IVB	
 Brunei Darussalam				BRU					
 Bulgaria					BUL				
 Burkina Faso					BUR				
 Burundi					BDI			
 Cambodia					CAM				
 Cameroon					CMR				
 Canada						CAN		
 Cape Verde					CPV					
 Cayman Islands					CAY				
 Central African Republic			CAF								
 Chad						CHA		
 People's Republic of China			CHN								
 Chile						CHI		
 Colombia					COL				
 Comoros					COM		
 Congo						CGO		
 Cook Islands					COK				
 Costa Rica					CRC				
 Côte d'Ivoire					CIV					
 Croatia					CRO		
 Cuba						CUB		
 Cyprus						CYP		
 Czech Republic					CZE					
 Democratic Republic of the Congo		COD									
 Denmark					DEN		
 Djibouti					DJI				
 Dominica					DMA				
 Dominican Republic				DOM						
 Ecuador					ECU			
 Egypt						EGY			
 El Salvador					ESA				
 Equatorial Guinea				GEQ						
 Eritrea					ERI			
 Estonia					EST		
 Ethiopia					ETH				
 Fiji						FIJ		
 Finland					FIN			
 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia		MKD											
 France						FRA		
 Gabon						GAB		
 Gambia						GAM		
 Georgia					GEO		
 Germany					GER			
 Great Britain					GBR				
 Ghana						GHA		
 Grenada					GRN		
 Guam						GUM		
 Guatemala					GUA				
 Guinea						GUI		
 Guinea-Bissau					GBS					
 Guyana						GUY		
 Haiti						HAI		
 Honduras					HON			
 Hong Kong, China				HKG						
 Hungary					HUN			
 Iceland					ISL			
 India						IND		
 Indonesia					INA				
 Islamic Republic of Iran			IRI								
 Iraq						IRQ		
 Ireland					IRL			
 Israel						ISR		
 Italy						ITA		
 Jamaica					JAM			
 Japan						JPN		
 Jordan						JOR			
 Kazakhstan					KAZ				
 Kenya						KEN		
 Kirghyzstan					KGZ				
 Korea								
 	Korea					KOR							
 	Democratic People's Republic of Korea	PRK										
 Kuwait						KUW		
 Lao People's Democratic Republic		LAO									
 Latvia						LAT			
 Lebanon					LIB		
 Lesotho					LES		
 Liberia					LBR		
 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya				LBA				
 Liechtenstein					LIE				
 Lithuania					LTU				
 Luxembourg					LUX				
 Madagascar					MAD				
 Malawi						MAW		
 Malaysia					MAS				
 Maldives					MDV				
 Mali						MLI		
 Malta						MLT		
 Mauritania					MTN				
 Mauritius					MRI				
 Mexico						MEX	
 Federated States of Micronesia			FSM									
 Republic of Moldova				MDA					
 Monaco						MON		
 Mongolia					MGL				
 Morocco					MAR		
 Mozambique					MOZ				
 Myanmar					MYA		
 Namibia					NAM			
 Nauru						NRU		
 Nepal						NEP		
 Netherlands					NED				
 Netherlands Antilles				AHO						
 New Zealand					NZL				
 Nicaragua					NCA				
 Niger						NIG		
 Nigeria					NGR		
 Norway						NOR			
 Oman						OMA		
 Pakistan					PAK				
 Palau						PLW		
 Palestine					PLE				
 Panama						PAN		
 Papua New Guinea				PNG						
 Paraguay					PAR				
 Peru						PER		
 Philippines					PHI				
 Poland						POL		
 Portugal					POR				
 Puerto Rico					PUR				
 Qatar						QAT		
 Romania					ROM			
 Russian Federation				RUS						
 Rwanda						RWA		
 Saint Kitts and Nevis				SKN						
 Saint Lucia					LCA				
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines		VIN								
 Samoa						SAM		
 San Marino					SMR				
 Sao Tome and Principe				STP						
 Saudi Arabia					KSA				
 Senegal					SEN			
 Seychelles					SEY				
 Sierra Leone					SLE				
 Singapore					SIN				
 Slovakia					SVK				
 Slovenia					SLO				
 Solomon Islands				SOL					
 Somalia					SOM		
 South Africa					RSA				
 Spain						ESP		
 Sri Lanka					SRI				
 Sudan						SUD		
 Suriname					SUR				
 Swaziland					SWZ				
 Sweden						SWE		
 Switzerland					SUI			
 Syrian Arab Republic				SYR							
 Chinese Taipei					TPE				
 Tajikistan					TJK				
 United Republic of Tanzania			TAN				
 Thailand					THA				
 Tonga						TGA		
 Togo						TOG		
 Turkey						TUR		
 Turkmenistan					TKM				
 Trinidad and Tobago				TRI						
 Tunisia					TUN		
 Uganda						UGA			
 Ukraine					UKR			
 United Arab Emirates				UAE						
 United States of America			USA								
 Uruguay					URU			
 Uzbekistan					UZB				
 Vanuatu					VAN			
 Venezuela					VEN				
 Vietnam					VIE		
 Virgin Islands					ISV					
 Yemen						YEM		
 Yugoslavia					YUG						
 Zambia						ZAM		
 Zimbabwe					ZIM				
 Individual Olympic Athletes; East Timor	IOA					
 Australia					AUS

The Australian flag

by António Martins

As Australia was the host country of Sydney 2000, the Australian national flag could been seen at every Olympic event. At the Opening Ceremony during the Parade of Flags, the flag of the host country was the last to enter the stadium. And at the Closing Ceremony the Australian flag was hoisted to symbolize the host country that was passing on the Olympic flag to the next host of the Olympic Games, Athens.
{1}

The Aboriginal flag and the Torres Straight Islanders flag

Aboriginal flag

by Christopher Vance

Torres Strait Islander flag

by Ivan Sache

Australia does have more than one national flag. In recognition of this the Sydney 2000 organizing committee has flown the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Straight Islanders flag alongside the Australian flag over the Sydney Olympic Park, the Olympic Village, the Sydney Opera House Olympic precinct, and three other prominent locations.
{1}

The flag of the United Nations:

by Željko Heimer, 5 June 1996, modified by Jan Oskar Engene, 11 April 1998 and António Martins, 10 October 1999

In ancient times an Olympic Truce was pledged for the duration of the Olympic Games. Since 1993 the UN have restored this tradition, and every two years, before the Winter or Summer Games are held, the General Assembly of the United Nations calls on all states and all international and national organizations to observe an Olympic Truce, starting one week before the Olympic Games are opened, and lasting until one week after the Olympic Games are closed.

To signify the Olympic Truce, and to recognize that both the United Nations and the Olympic Movement strive for peace and understanding among all nations and people, at the Olympic Games the UN flag is flown at each Olympic event.
{1}

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.