The Sydney Olympics, proclaimed the best ever, bowed out yesterday in a joyous extravaganza of fireworks and partying that went on long into the night.
After 17 days of competition the curtain fell for another four years as the mantle was passed to Athens.
Two fighter bombers trailing plumes of flame lit up the night sky - one over Olympic Park and the other over the city's landmark Harbour Bridge - as a prelude to a spectacular cascade of fireworks to mark the end of Sydney 2000.
At least one million people packed the harbourside and another 110,000 filled Stadium Australia to say farewell to the thousands of athletes who danced the night away.
The bridge, one of Australia's most potent icons, was the centrepiece of a $1.7 million firework display which put in the shade the New Year celebrations that heralded the start of the new millennium.
It was a breathtaking climax for a city that has revelled in the most successful Olympics ever staged.
"I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic Games ever," declared Olympic chief Juan Antonio Samaranch, presiding over his last Games in 20 years at the helm.
Even Samaranch joined in the fun during his formal speech, starting it with the Australians' competition battle cry of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie".
Sydney's success helped redeem the tarnished image of an International Olympic Committee still smarting from the corruption exposed in the bidding for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.
But doping was never too far from the headlines and the final day brought the seemingly inevitable announcements of failed tests.
These involved an Armenian weightlifter and a Norwegian wrestler, bringing to seven the number of positive cases from in competition tests at the Games.
The United States finished the Games in their usual dominant position at the top of the medals table but their prestige was dented on the final day in the boxing and basketball.
The Americans failed to bring home an Olympic boxing gold medal for the first time since 1948 and their performance in the men's basketball, where the US were runaway favourites, also appeared lacklustre. They beat France 85-75 in the final but lost their aura of invincibility and raised the prospect of an end to a decade of American dominance since NBA stars began competing in 1992.
But if high American expectations were somewhat disappointed, the more modest aspirations of Britain received a boost yesterday when Audley Harrison won the super-heavyweight boxing.
Harrison beat Kazakhstan's Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov convincingly to become the first British boxing gold medallist since middleweight Chris Finnegan in Mexico in 1968.
Later Stephanie Cook, a doctor, made it 11 gold medals for the British when she came from behind to win the modern pentathlon with a fine performance in the running section.
