The Gambia at the 2000 Summer Olympics
The Gambia National Olympic Committee was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 1 January 1976. The nation boycotted the first two Summer Olympic Games held after their recognition. They boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics over New Zealand's participation, and joined a United States-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Therefore they did not make their Olympic debut until the 1984 Summer Olympics, and have participated in every Summer Olympics since then. Sydney was their fifth consecutive appearance at the Summer Games. The 2000 Summer Olympics were held from 15 September to 1 October 2000; a total of 10,651 athletes represented 199 National Olympic Committees. The Gambian delegation consisted of two track and field athletes, Pa Mamadou Gai and Adama Njie. The flag bearing duties at the opening ceremony were performed by Njie.
Manchester bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics
Juan Antonio Samaranch, the President of the IOC had described Manchester's chances of hosting the Olympics as "very, very high" while speaking at Manchester Town Hall. A video presentation used by the bid team which included shots of the Pennines (a mountain range across Northern England) and of London, including Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London, which was described by British journalists as "bewildering" as it didn't concentrate on the host city. The IOC had published a report on 12 July 1993 regarding the technical aspects of the various bids for the 2000 Games; while Sydney was described as the favourite and Manchester too was praised, Beijing's application concerned the reviewers. Reporters considered that the Olympics would be hosted either by Sydney or Manchester, although felt that Beijing may have a chance as IOC members would be tempted by the chance to have an Olympics hosted in China.