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Opening secrets If you want to know, read on
If you're the sort of person who turns down the sound on the television sports report so you don't hear the score of the tape-delayed game you're about to watch in another hour, then click out of this column quickly. Divert your eyes, hit the escape key or just tap incessantly on the delete button. Unless you're reading this from our archive section, we're about to give away some of the highlights from the opening ceremonies in Sydney that U.S. television viewers may not have seen. We'll hold off on the most important piece of clandestine information, the identity of the final torchbearer. That stunning moment excepted, we present the Top 10 (well, OK, 11) moments of the opening ceremonies: Waltzing Matilda: It, rather than Advance Australia Fair, might as well be the national anthem, what with the passion Aussies put into it. Most of the 110,000 in the stadium sang along to John Williamson's rendition shortly before the ceremony officially began at 7 p.m.
Aboriginal dance: Lead dancer Djakapurra Munyarryn called his people the new generation of spirits. Munyarryn led more than 400 native Australians in several dance scenes that evoked a proud past, each to the wafts of burning eucalyptus leaves. "I am never more proud of my people than today," said Munyarryn after the ceremony. Deep-sea Dreaming: The idea was corny and predictable enough: a 13-year-old walks into the infield, falls off to sleep and we watch her dreams played out in a skit. But even Nikki Webster's parents didn't know ahead of time that their daughter would be suspended by cables 50 feet in the air for nearly 10 minutes as she flipped, twisted and mimed several swimming strokes in her journey into the Great Barrier Reef. "I wasn't scared," Webster said later, "just having heaps and heaps of fun." Two Koreas as one: This took a lot of negotiation, but the IOC finally convinced officials from North and South Korea, two countries still technically at war, to allow their athletes to march into the stadium as one team in common outfits behind a neutral flag held by one athlete from each team. Portuguese karaoke?: Brazilian athletes broke into several songs as they marched around the track. Tennis player Gustavo Kuerten seemed to be stuck in between dueling tunes in front and in back of him, so he switched places in line to partake in both. East Timor: Four athletes from the embattled land marched officially as Individual Olympic Athletes and received the loudest ovation other than the Australians and Koreans. Victor Ramos held a neutral flag overhead as four others walked behind him blowing kisses. No jeeps: With less-than-fond memories of Atlanta, here's a nod to the Aussies for what wasn't in the ceremonies. Sheet music: As Vanessa Amorosi performed the song Heroes Live Forever, organizers unfurled a giant sheet from the top to the bottom rows of the stands and flashed images of athletes onto the sheet as it was passing above spectators' heads. The sheet then passed, raised-hand-to-hand, along the infield above the heads of the athletes as peace doves, and finally the five Olympic rings flashed on the sheet. The Golden Girl: It was Betty Cuthbert's nickname back when the sprinter won three gold medals at the 1956 Melbourne Games. Cuthbert retired after those games, but came back to win the 400 meters at the '64 Tokyo Olympics. A few years later, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and has become one of the country's leading spokespeople for research into and treatment for the disease. Three-time sprint silver medalist Raelene Boyle wheeled Cuthbert onto the track so she could be one of the final torch carriers. Shane-ful emotion: Australian swimmer Shane Gould, who won five medals, including three gold at the 1972 Munich Games, was among those who carried the torch for part of its journey inside the stadium. Gould's quarter-lap began as a fast walk, sped into a jog and finally evolved into a giddy skip before she handed off the torch. The lighting: You'll have to watch for yourself . . .
Sports Illustrated writer-reporter Brian Cazeneuve is in Sydney covering the Games for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back daily to read Cazeneuve's behind-the-scenes reports from Down Under.
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