90 replies to this topic

[LuigiVercotti]

Thanks for posting this SR...thought I saw a news report a few weeks back on the guts of this story. I'll probably go and take a look at the 15th. Nice to see that there'll be an exhibition of Sydney 2000 memorabilia etc, however as I said in another thread (can't recall which one) why isn't there a permanent museum or exhibition space for this stuff at Homebush? And as for the London 2012 plaque, I didn't even know there was one for Beijing or Athens. There are the light pylons with plaques etc for all games leading up to Sydney 2000 but have they been adding more since 2000?

Maybe we should have a GamesBid Sydney booze up at the anniversary

[Sir Rols]

Yeah, I must admit, when I saw Cathy was gonna re-light the cauldron, I did think it might be well worth making the trip over to Homebush for the, what would you call it ... Decenary?
We never did get top celebrate the year's anniversary - I remember stuff was planned, but then September 11 happened, and it was, well, inapproriate at best.

Keep me posted if you plan on going.

[baron-pierreIV]

Thanks for that report, Rols. Hmmm...maybe if I don't get a ticket to Greece, maybe I'll run down there...altho I don't know if Qantas is a Star Alliance partner (so I can use my mileage points).

[Sir Rols]

Excellent article from The Oz's Glenda Korporaal on Sydney's legacy 10 years on. Nicely balanced and close to the mark, I think.

Carrying the torch

[LuigiVercotti]

Sir Rols, on 27 August 2010 - 05:02 PM, said:

Excellent article from The Oz's Glenda Korporaal on Sydney's legacy 10 years on. Nicely balanced and close to the mark, I think.

Carrying the torch

Not too bad a report Rols and of course with Glenda Korporaal behind it (author of 'The Bid' and probably one of the two or three best Olympic sports journalists in Australia) there is a degree of authority to it. I was a little disappointed how she didn't mention the elephant in the room re tourism...9/11. Sydney 2000 was always going to have it's tourism impact decreased considering the length of time it takes overseas visitors from the Americas and Europe particularly to come here and global tourism and aviation suffered hugely because of 9/11. It was going to be a bloody hard ask to build sustainable tourism down under for that period say 2001-2004 within that context, and by then much of the world's sport/tourism attention was shifting to Greece and Athens.

It also has to be said that the state government in NSW has literally turned everything it touches to crap since 2000, and that has certainly hindered the Olympic legacy. Turning SOP and Newington into a viable new urban and business centre has been hindered by a lack of transport infrastructure and planning stuff ups. Having said that most recent SOG redevelopments have taken a degree of time and effort to get to where Sydney's are today, and in fact I'd argue we are way ahead of our more recent and many earlier hosts.

The other legacy issue that wasn't properly addressed in the article (though hinted at) was the impact the Sydney games had on our sports politics and international influence. Australia is (unlike as late as the early 90s) a major Olympic power in terms of representation in the IOC, planning and development of current and future hosting OGs, rankings in sports held at the games, corporate partnerships with OCOGs (as seen with the likes of David Atkins for Vancouver) and even in the battle against doping (with John Fahey, NSW premier when Sydney won the 2000 games now head of WADA). Without Sydney 2000 there would have been a vast diminishing of our impact on the Olympic movement, sports and their political management...since 1992 I'd argue only the likes of the US, China, the UK and maybe two or three other countries and their representatives have had such a major role to play in global sport as Australians were able to build on.

[Sir Rols]

eusebius65, on 27 August 2010 - 08:16 PM, said:

Not too bad a report Rols and of course with Glenda Korporaal behind it (author of 'The Bid' and probably one of the two or three best Olympic sports journalists in Australia) there is a degree of authority to it. I was a little disappointed how she didn't mention the elephant in the room re tourism...9/11. Sydney 2000 was always going to have it's tourism impact decreased considering the length of time it takes overseas visitors from the Americas and Europe particularly to come here and global tourism and aviation suffered hugely because of 9/11. It was going to be a bloody hard ask to build sustainable tourism down under for that period say 2001-2004 within that context, and by then much of the world's sport/tourism attention was shifting to Greece and Athens.

It also has to be said that the state government in NSW has literally turned everything it touches to crap since 2000, and that has certainly hindered the Olympic legacy. Turning SOP and Newington into a viable new urban and business centre has been hindered by a lack of transport infrastructure and planning stuff ups. Having said that most recent SOG redevelopments have taken a degree of time and effort to get to where Sydney's are today, and in fact I'd argue we are way ahead of our more recent and many earlier hosts.

The other legacy issue that wasn't properly addressed in the article (though hinted at) was the impact the Sydney games had on our sports politics and international influence. Australia is (unlike as late as the early 90s) a major Olympic power in terms of representation in the IOC, planning and development of current and future hosting OGs, rankings in sports held at the games, corporate partnerships with OCOGs (as seen with the likes of David Atkins for Vancouver) and even in the battle against doping (with John Fahey, NSW premier when Sydney won the 2000 games now head of WADA). Without Sydney 2000 there would have been a vast diminishing of our impact on the Olympic movement, sports and their political management...since 1992 I'd argue only the likes of the US, China, the UK and maybe two or three other countries and their representatives have had such a major role to play in global sport as Australians were able to build on.

I can't say I knew her well, but I've worked with Glenda. Lovely lady.

And yeah, I agree with you 100 per cent, 9/11 was the HUGE hit to any likely post-games tourism boom. And yet it got a scant mention.

As for SOP? Hmmm. I dunno. It has been a slow process for it to start to become "alive" and self-sustaining, but we can't say we weren't told that from the start, and I don't think it's ever really been even close the white elephant that critics and watchers from afar have been keen to try and paint it. Like anything in NSW and Sydney, transport's the missing key. Pity Auburn-Newington aren't in a marginal electorate. Still, lately I've been using Bicentennial Park and the surrounds almost every fortnight. Great asset to the city!

And as for our influence, don't forget probably the bigger winner of all, Coatesy. He's ridden the Sydney wave excellently, and is proving a deft hand both within the IOC, and guarding the Olympic flame back home vigorously against the assaults of the likes of the Crawford Report. I wouldn't put any limit yet on how far he can rise in the ranks at Lausanne.

[LuigiVercotti]

Sir Rols, on 27 August 2010 - 11:39 PM, said:

I can't say I knew her well, but I've worked with Glenda. Lovely lady.

And yeah, I agree with you 100 per cent, 9/11 was the HUGE hit to any likely post-games tourism boom. And yet it got a scant mention.

As for SOP? Hmmm. I dunno. It has been a slow process for it to start to become "alive" and self-sustaining, but we can't say we weren't told that from the start, and I don't think it's ever really been even close the white elephant that critics and watchers from afar have been keen to try and paint it. Like anything in NSW and Sydney, transport's the missing key. Pity Auburn-Newington aren't in a marginal electorate. Still, lately I've been using Bicentennial Park and the surrounds almost every fortnight. Great asset to the city!

And as for our influence, don't forget probably the bigger winner of all, Coatesy. He's ridden the Sydney wave excellently, and is proving a deft hand both within the IOC, and guarding the Olympic flame back home vigorously against the assaults of the likes of the Crawford Report. I wouldn't put any limit yet on how far he can rise in the ranks at Lausanne.

Oh yes...Coates is probably the one single person who has really taken the Sydney 2000 SOGs and spun it into pure gold. From IOC membership and exec committee positioning to kicking the Crawford Report into the gutter of government indifference, he'd have to be one of the top 5 sports execs in Australia if not within the IOC. We Aussies might have thought Lord Gosper was our best hope for an IOC Prez but I say watch Mr Coates. He might not be Jacques' successor but he has ambition, drive, networking skills, credibility and could well get the nod before 2024...

[Sir Rols]

Quote

Our Olympic mascots beat Fatso in the race to the Powerhouse

ALTHOUGH Syd, Olly and Millie were the official mascots of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, they never won hearts like the rogue mascot, Fatso the fat-arsed wombat.

Fatso was a product of Roy Slaven and H.G. Nelson's Channel Seven television show, The Dream, which captured the Zeitgeist of the greatest Games ever held.

Slaven told the Herald after the Games: ''There was always a sense of disappointment, personally speaking, with Syd, Olly and Dickhead. They just didn't talk to me and I didn't see kids playing with them in the streets.''

There's no Fatso, however, in the collection of Olympic memorabilia at the Powerhouse Discovery Centre in Castle Hill that will be on display this Saturday as part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the Games. Syd the platypus, Olly the kookaburra and Millie the echidna are among the hundreds of items at the centre that manager Christopher Snelling believes form one of the world's most comprehensive Olympic collections.

There's also Lizzie the frillnecked lizard, the mascot of the Sydney Paralympic Games.

The collection boasts everything, from clothing Nikki Webster wore at the Olympic opening ceremony to signage about composting that was part of the ''green'' Games.

On Saturday, children will also be able to make their own medals and stand on a genuine medal podium. Jennifer Irwin, who designed costumes for the opening and closing ceremonies, will talk about the work she did on the likes of the iconic ''lawnmower men''.

As for Fatso, he sits in the office of the Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes in Sydney.

Sydney Morning Herald

[LuigiVercotti]

Saw that article Rols and almost posted so thanks for the pre-empt
As always the People's Mascot, the little battler with the fat arse keeps the spirit if Sydney on the burn.

[Sir Rols]

Still often when I trawl through the net and read Olympic stories, Sydney gets mentioned among the "white elephant" cautionary tales - usually based on the state of the stadium just one year after the games, but ignoring how nearly all venues are now making profits.
Now more evidence to the contrary:

Quote

Sydney Olympic Park a commercial real estate boomtown

ONCE tipped to become a great white elephant, Sydney Olympic Park has transformed into a commercial real estate boomtown 11 years on from the 2000 Games.

While empty offices gather dust in the rest of the city, Olympic Park is hot property.

Sydney Olympic Park appears to be holding the torch for the otherwise sluggish commercial market after the latest Sydney metropolitan office report by Colliers International showed the area had the tightest vacancy rate of all Sydney markets, at just 0.7 per cent.

The area, which officially became a suburb in 2009, has approximately 100,000sq m of net lettable office space, with more ear-marked in the 2030 master plan. The 130 businesses on site employ 12,000 people, not including temporary staff brought in for the 5000-plus events which attract about 10 million visitors a year.

By 2030, Olympic Park is expected to have a daily population of 50,000 workers, students and residents as well as 20,000 visitors a day.

Lee Walker, senior project manager at BIS Shrapnel, said despite Olympic Park's "incredibly low" vacancy rate, rents had not reflected the high demand.

Watpac, one of the more recent residents to move to Sydney Olympic Park, relocated from Norwest Business Park in 2010.

"For us, it's the geographic centre of Sydney because as a construction company our projects can be spread all over the greater metropolitan area.," Watpac NSW manager Rick Wang said.

He said the continued development of the park and its surrounding infrastructure was a positive for residents.

"It brings people 24/7 to the park and then that creates more opportunity for retail."

News.com.au