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Twenty years coming up since the Sydney Olympic Games.
I thought it would be nice to remember something domestic and an event that I certainly remember and enjoyed. But first the downside - the preparations! I was living in Sydney ... I remember the footpaths of the CBD all being taken up for about a year, street directions changed, mayhem on the major roads as underpasses were put in at major intersections ... not to mention the notorious giardia water contamination thing!
The ticket ballot scandal! Tickets being held back by the Sydney organising Committee ... pathetic small amounts of seats for the major events/sessions released at first to the punters (later 'revised' up
). The marching band 'scandal'. The Olympic Stadium going broke.
Anyway, the ticket ballot came and went I did pretty well - several of Thorpey's swimming finals, Freeman's 400m final, some soccer, beach vollyball, athletics heats, gymnastics, track and field. I was working for an investment bank at the time, who held a lot of the Olympic Stadium debt. When it went broke, the debt converted to equity and all of a sudden we were part owner of the Olympic Stadium . Word went out in my 'M&A' department that if we could find a client, we could take them to the Opening Ceremony. But only 10 seats. The elbows went out and I bagged a needy client. So my ticket haul ended up like this:
So, to the Opening Ceremony. It started before the countdown, I remember, when some cleaner guy drove his van or something out onto the arena, to be chased away by security. A set-up of course, but good 'pre-match' entertainment. That I think prompted this pic:
You'll see we were very close to the arena - Row 4 from memory. Good for the detail, not so good for the 'overall' picture. For a freebie, no-one was complaining.
Under every seat was a yellow school case, with various glitter/torches etc and a pair of green and gold socks.
The horses started things
and there were the maaaaaarrrrching bands
The finale:
Then the athletes, with the Aussie team arriving, the place went nuts (me too, judging by the camera shake):
I thought it would be nice to remember something domestic and an event that I certainly remember and enjoyed. But first the downside - the preparations! I was living in Sydney ... I remember the footpaths of the CBD all being taken up for about a year, street directions changed, mayhem on the major roads as underpasses were put in at major intersections ... not to mention the notorious giardia water contamination thing!
The ticket ballot scandal! Tickets being held back by the Sydney organising Committee ... pathetic small amounts of seats for the major events/sessions released at first to the punters (later 'revised' up
). The marching band 'scandal'. The Olympic Stadium going broke.Anyway, the ticket ballot came and went I did pretty well - several of Thorpey's swimming finals, Freeman's 400m final, some soccer, beach vollyball, athletics heats, gymnastics, track and field. I was working for an investment bank at the time, who held a lot of the Olympic Stadium debt. When it went broke, the debt converted to equity and all of a sudden we were part owner of the Olympic Stadium
. Word went out in my 'M&A' department that if we could find a client, we could take them to the Opening Ceremony. But only 10 seats. The elbows went out and I bagged a needy client. So my ticket haul ended up like this:So, to the Opening Ceremony. It started before the countdown, I remember, when some cleaner guy drove his van or something out onto the arena, to be chased away by security. A set-up of course, but good 'pre-match' entertainment. That I think prompted this pic:
You'll see we were very close to the arena - Row 4 from memory. Good for the detail, not so good for the 'overall' picture. For a freebie, no-one was complaining.
Under every seat was a yellow school case, with various glitter/torches etc and a pair of green and gold socks.
The horses started things
and there were the maaaaaarrrrching bands
The finale:
Then the athletes, with the Aussie team arriving, the place went nuts (me too, judging by the camera shake):
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and the greek wrestling of all things. We were in the front couple of rows and I turned around trying to place the familiar voice behind me and it was Kerry and James Packer! . We had better seats 
