In troubling times, it's nice to hark back to a simpler era. Like, for example, the dawn of the millennium, when Y2K was the biggest concern on everyone's minds, Sydney was host to the 2000 Olympic Games, and the century seemed kind of promising, instead of like a garbage fire with endlessly amassing fuel.
With a new two-part special airing on Channel Seven at the end of the month, as reported by B&T, Australians can begin the countdown to the rescheduled Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 by revisiting Sydney's finest moment on the world stage: obviously, Nikki Webster's phenomenal rendition of 'Under the Southern Skies' at the Olympic Games' opening ceremony. The first of the two parts of this throwback special will be broadcast on Wednesday, July 29, and focus on the ceremony itself, featuring new interviews with key players involved the opening ceremony, including Vanessa Amorosi, James Morrison, Human Nature, Adam Garcia, Djakapurra Munyarryun and, yes, the Nikki.
The second part of the special, broadcast on Wednesday, August 5, will focus on the two-week long period of the actual sporting events. While the whole Games won't be broadcast, the special will focus on the major highlights of 2000 – our bets are on national treasure Cathy Freeman's win in the 400 metres, the drama of Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina's pole being set too low for her routine, and Ian Thorpe's world-record breaking freestyle gold. We can feel the rush already.
We'll cradle our Olympics-starved hearts with this exciting information in the meantime while we await Tokyo's Olympics – set to take place in 2021 from July 23 to August 8, while the Paralympics are scheduled for August 24 until September 5, 2021.