Last night, Sydney began seriously to party. The Olympic torch reached the heart of the city just as darkness fell, on the 99th day of its tour around Australia.
As the flame passed the arched and scalloped roofs of the Sydney Opera House, massive Olympic rings were lit on the 1,650-foot long Harbour Bridge, and more than 50 lasers on 17 high-rise buildings beamed coloured rays into the clear night sky.
After a long loop around the city suburbs this morning the torch will finally be dipped into the cauldron above Olympic Stadium at Homebush Bay (by an as yet unnamed personality) and the 27th Summer Olympiad will get under way. The flame's progress yesterday united Sydney's disparate communities in a common impulse to rock. Dragons bobbed as it passed through Chinatown, drag queens pirouetted in Darlinghurst, surfers mobbed it on Bondi Beach, and over a quarter of a million people cheered its arrival at City Hall in the hands of Olivia Newton-John and world number one woman golfer, Karrie Webb.
Not everyone is celebrating, of course. Some 500 out-of-town Olympic coach drivers walked off the job complaining about poor lodgings and food. Apart from that, the drivers just kept getting lost. Organisers appealed to locals to call a toll-free number and volunteer their services. Celebrities arriving included Chelsea Clinton, waving like a seasoned "pol", boxer Muhammad Ali and several European crowned heads, their titles dutifully listed in the local papers.
Battle-scarred protesters arrived from the World Economic Forum in Melbourne with tales of police violence, including of a driver who ran over a young woman's legs, a scene shown in graphic detail on television. But they came up against a wall of Olympic delirium in Sydney. "What a waste of money," chanted a group of demonstrators as the torch passed. "This is worth every goddamn penny, even if we have to pay it off for the rest of our lives," replied an angry peroxide blonde. Official Australia is furious with the protesters and unapologetic about their rough treatment. The New South Wales Premier, Mr Bob Carr, accused them of using "fascist bully-boy tactics" and warned "the Central Industrial Prison at Long Bay jail is waiting for anyone who thinks they can blockade the Olympic event."
Aboriginal leaders who will stage a protest march to Mr Carr's office to highlight historic injustices told the demonstrators not to bother joining them. Organiser Ms Jenny Munro said they would not tolerate any "ratbags" intent on violence. They know there is a lot of sympathy for the Aboriginal cause in Sydney - but not for party-poopers.
On Line
Round-the-clock Olympic coverage including results, reports and analysis on Sydney 2000 at www.ireland.com/sports/olympics
Conor O'Clery's Sense of Sydney will appear regularly on the site throughout the Games