Olympic fever swept through Australia in the lead up to and during the 2000 Sydney Games and Port Stephens was no exception.
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From hosting a mini Olympics for hundreds of students, a 'giant party' for the Olympic Torch Relay, celebrating the local individuals selected to participate in the relay, the Olympics and Paralympics, welcoming international athletes to our blue water paradise, sending Port Stephens Coaches, police, volunteers, performers and judges down to Sydney for the Games - the Port was heavily involved in the 2000 Olympics.
The 2000 Summer Olympics was staged in Sydney from September 15 to October 1. The Paralympics was staged in Sydney from October 18 to October 29.
The mark the 20th anniversary of the Sydney Games, the Examiner delved into its archives to see how the newspaper covered the Port's involvement in the Olympics and Paralympics. Here are the Olympics stories and advertisements that were printed in the Examiner in the year 2000.
The biggest Olympics event in Port Stephens was the torch relay. As the Olympic flame made its way down the east coast of Australia on its way to Sydney, it passed through Karuah and Raymond Terrace on August 27, 2000.
As the Examiner reported in its August 30, 2000 edition, about 10,000 people turned out to watch the flame enter and exit Raymond Terrace.
Prior to the flame's arrival in the Terrace, Port Stephens Council hosted a torch relay event, a cost of $54,000, on the sportsground behind its administration building complete with performances, music and activities. The event had been two years in the making and was the pinnacle of torch celebrations in the Port.
A number of Port Stephens individuals were selected through a nomination process to carry the torch in the Terrace including Aaron Lightfoot, Anna Heasman, Joe Sepps, Jan Rees, Jim Booth, Morgan Arndell, Gareth Doyle, Wayne Sheperd, Vicky Voyzey, Kurt Lloyd and Patrick Byron. Each was accompanied by two support people.
Click through the images to see how the Examiner covered the Port's involvement in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games:
Hugh Lambie, a Fingal Bay resident who competed at the 1948 Olympic Games in London for rowing, carried the torch into Raymond Terrace and lit the cauldron. On the cauldron's arrival in the Port in May 2000, it had done a tour of the Port's clubs and shopping centres, remaining on display until it was lit in August. The cauldron was to remain in the community as "an enduring legacy to the relay".
Katie Turrell (nee Hall) carried the torch out of Raymond Terrace as it made its way to Newcastle. The Examiner caught up with Ms Turrell who reflected on her 700m run through Heatherbrae with the torch 20 years ago, saying the experience was "surreal".
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