In addition to the success of Australia’s athletes in Olympic sporting competition, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games have broken numerous other Australian, Olympic and world records.
Attendance figures — Sydney Olympic Park
Day 8 of the Sydney Olympic Games (Saturday 23 September) smashed the day attendance record for Sydney Olympic Park. 400,345 people attended Sydney Olympic Park for events on that day, which was double the previous daily attendance record of 200,000 (set earlier in the Games). By September 30, 4,472,495 people had travelled to Sydney Olympic Park. Yesterday, a total of 357,285 people travelled to Sydney Olympic Park by train and bus.
Ticketing
Sydney 2000 set a new Olympic record for ticket sales, with more than 87% of available tickets sold across Sydney and interstate venues (soccer). Sydney venues have sold more than 91% of available tickets. The IOC has confirmed this breaks the previous record for ticket sales of more than 82% set in Atlanta.
By today, ticket sales for the Sydney Games translated to more than $780 million in gross revenue, 6.7 million tickets nationally and 6 million tickets to Sydney venues. More than 5,000 free tickets to the Closing Cereony were today given to Volunteers.
Marketing and sponsorship
The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Licensing program has been the most successful in the history of the modern Olympic Games, selling more than $420 million in retail products since 1997.
For the first time in Olympic mechandising history, Olympic Stores have sold the Olympic Games merchandise range throughout Australia and at several international airports throughout the world.
Catering
Sydney Olympic Park experienced record spectator sales of the following items:
Beer (10,000 cups a day)
Coke (70,000 bottles a day)
Water (3000 bottles a day)
Ice-cream (4000 a day)
Pizza (2000 a day)
Seafood baskets (2000 a day)
Hot dogs (3000 a day)
Hot chips (3000 cups a day)
Volunteers
Sydney’s Games attracted the assistance of more than 46,000 volunteers with a very low attrition rate of approximately 2 percent. Another 15,000 volunteers have been enlisted for Sydney’s Paralympic Games. Overall 5 million hours have been given by volunteers to Sydney’s Olympic Games. In the seven years leading up to the Games, 500,000 hours were given by volunteers in part-time roles. A total 59 percent of volunteers are under the age of 45 and 20 percent under 25 years of age (most are university students undertaking volunteer work relevant to their prospective career). Some volunteers are between 70 and 80 years of age. A total 53 percent are female and 47 percent are male volunteers.
Broadcasting
The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games were broadcast in more countries and territories than any Olympic Games in history. 220 countries televised the Sydney Games, compared with 214 countries for the Atlanta Games and 193 countries for the Barcelona Games.
Internet
The Sydney 2000 Games wrote a new chapter in internet history. The official Olympic site, www.olympics.com, had more than 9 billion hits during the course of the Sydney Games. This surpasses the previous record of 634 million hits set at the 1998 Nagano Games.
The gamesinfo web site (www.gamesinfo.com.au) averaged 1 million hits per day during the course of the Sydney Games, making it the most successful web site ever put together by the public sector in Australia.
Transport
Sydney experienced its biggest ever transport day when the Olympic athletic competition started on Friday, September 22. On that day bus and train passengers totalled more than 1.9 million. By Thursday, September 28 the cumulative total of Olympic train and bus passengers (from September 13) totalled 22, 684, 000 which is double Sydney’s normal passenger loading for the same period.
Sydney Ferries had a record 80, 322 passengers on Sunday, September 24. Their previous record of 80,000 passengers in one day was set on Australia’s Federation on January 1, 1901. During the Games, a total 731,020 people travelled by ferry between Friday, September 15 and Tuesday, September 26, with an overall average of 60,918 per day. More than half the passenger trips were taken to and from Manly.
Construction of venues
Sydney set a new world record by completing construction of its permanent sporting venues for the Olympic Games months earlier than any other host city. All but one of Sydney’s permanent sporting venues for the Games were completed in 1999, more than eight months before the Opening Ceremony.
The Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre, which was added to the original construction program in 1997 following the addition of women’s Water Polo to Olympic competition, was the last of the permanent sporting venues to be completed. It was finished in April 2000 – five months before the Games.
Olympic Village
The Olympic Village has been described as the best ever by both athletes and team officials.The Olympic Village is the worlds largest solar suburb. All 665 houses have solar electric and solar water heating units on the roof. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the village by some 7,000 tonnes a year.
One million meals served at Olympic Village
Athletes at the Olympic Village devoured more than one million meals. The one millionth meal was served in the Athlete’s Dining Hall on Thursday 28 September to Australia’s Michellie Jones, silver medallist in the women’s triathlon. And what was the most popular dish on the menu? – char-grilled Tasmanian salmon kebabs!
Environment
Sydney was the first host city to provide a comprehensive commitment to the environment. The Environmental Guidelines for the Summer Olympic Games 1993 contain more than 100 commitments based on the concept of ecologically sustainable development. The commitments have been achieved in all aspects of the planning and staging of the Games. Olympic environmental firsts include:
92% reduction in construction waste during village and venue construction, through waste recycling schemes.
50% reduction in requirement for drinking-quality water at Sydney Olympic Park, through Australia’s first large-scale water recycling plant for urban use. More than 2,500 toilets at Olympic Park use recyled water for flushing. The use of recyled water and the planting of local native plants reduce the demand for drinking-quality water on the site . This saves water now and the need for more dams in the future.
recycling or composting 80% of all waste and rubbish collected at Olympic sites. This was achieved through special recycling bins placed around Sydney Olympic Park and at other venues.
IOC Co-ordination Meeting
The daily IOC Co-ordination meeting chaired by President Samaranch set a new world record of its own on Wednesday, September 27, sitting for only eight minutes.
Record temperature
Sydney turned up the heat during the Olympic Games, with Friday 29 September being the second hottest September day on record. The temperature reached 34.5 degrees, just short of the record 34.6 degrees set in September 1965.
Lollies eaten
Staff working in the Common Domain areas of Sydney Olympic Park consumed one billion lollies during the Olympic Games. That averages out at 6 lollies per person per day! Most of these were Spectator Services staff.
Source: SOCOG