2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and commonly known as Sydney 2000 or the Millennium Olympic Games/Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event which was held between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was the second time that the Summer Olympics were held in Australia, and also the Southern Hemisphere, the first being in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1956.
2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The President of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Organising Committee (SOCOG), Michael Knight, and the President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch made the opening addresses. The event was officially opened by Governor General Sir William Deane. This was the first occasion that a Summer Olympics held in a Commonwealth realm was not opened by the monarch or a member of the Royal Family, although it was the second overall, behind the 1988 Winter Olympics.