Tens of thousands were on the move long before dawn this morning throughout Sydney, streaming towards railway stations in an attempt to beat the biggest potential crush of the Sydney Olympics - and of Australian sporting history. "Go with the flow" rather than "Go Aussie Go" has been adopted by organisers as the slogan of the day, with Olympic officials urging ticket holders to fall in with special "flow patterns".
"We advise people to follow directional signs and listen to yellow-sleeved Games staff who will provide valuable updates and crowd assistance throughout the day," said the director general of the Olympic Co-ordination Authority, Mr David Richmond. With 15 different sports at the Olympic headquarters, the number of spectators at Olympic Park is expected to exceed half a million today, tomorrow and Sunday.
"Sydney Olympic Park is about to experience its biggest crowds ever, with numbers far exceeding anything Australia has ever seen," Mr Richmond warned.
"It is important that spectators be prepared for travel and queuing times to take longer than they may have previously anticipated, and to be patient during peak times."
Olympic Park is closed to anyone without a ticket to an event or a special pass, to control the number of pedestrians anticipated on "Super Friday". "If you thought Monday was big, with 180,000 spectators, then Friday is enormous," said Mr Paul Willoughby of the Olympic Roads and Transport Authority, who put the expected number of commuters today at 400,000.
The nightmare scenario for the Olympic organisers is a repeat of the scenes in Atlanta in 1996 when Olympic athletes and spectators were stranded several times because of traffic chaos. Sydney's rail system, in disarray four months ago, has been a major success this week, moving nine million passengers since the opening ceremony last Friday. The breaking point could come today with only 90 minutes to empty the main stadium after athletic events and before the evening programme begins.
The potential for disruption was underlined by a brokendown bus and an oil spill on the motorway near Olympic Park at Homebush yesterday morning, which caused traffic chaos for a time. Delays have not always been the fault of organisers. On Monday Chinese soft-ballers were late for their match because their bus had to return in mid-journey to the Olympic Village as some team members had left their accreditation passes behind. Boxers who turned up late the same day had "decided to hang around a hotel lobby" rather than catch their designated bus 20 minutes earlier, an organiser said.
Petrol from a burst pipe yesterday spilled into a marina used for the Olympic sailing regatta. Police and fire brigades went to the marina at Rushcutters Bay on Sydney Harbour's southern foreshore after residents and journalists complained of fumes. The Olympic regatta is likely to go ahead as scheduled. In another incident, the lamps that carried the Olympic flame on its 100-day relay trek across Australia have been stolen.
They vanished after the torch arrived at Stadium Australia for the opening ceremony when the flame was lit by Aboriginal running star Ms Cathy Freeman.
"They are more important for their historical and sentimental value than their monetary value," said a spokesman for the Sydney organisers.
Reuters adds: Cuba yesterday protested against a decision by a top world sports panel to allow a Cuban-born kayaker to participate in the US team.
Cuban Olympic Committee (COC) President Jose Ramon Fernandez told Cuban state television from Sydney that he had sent a protest letter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding its decision over kayaker Mr Angel Perez, a Cuban-born athlete who defected to the United States in 1993.