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Al-Ahram Weekly 7 - 13 October 1999 Issue No. 450 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 7 - 13 October 1999 Issue No. 450
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Interview Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Gearing up for the Games
By Inas MazharThe countdown to the 2000 Sydney Olympics has begun. With a little under a year to go before the opening ceremony, the milestone was celebrated last month by a host of activities at Sydney's Darling Harlem, culminating in a live show from Lusanne, Switzerland, where the official Games invitations were sent to 200 countries.
Michael Knight, president of the Sydney Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (SOCOG), said around 110,000 employees and volunteers were needed to stage the Games and that these have to be interviewed, selected, trained, and, in most cases, be ready to take up their positions well before the Games commence.
"Around 2,400 people will be employed directly by SOCOG. Up to 65,000 will be employed by contractors responsible for catering, cleaning, housekeeping and security, and around 40,000 volunteers are needed in a variety of roles across every venue," Knight said.
He added that SOCOG expects to complete 80 per cent of the volunteer interviews by the end of this year and finish volunteer selections and placements by March 2000.
"At SOCOG's initiative, the Olympic Labour Network has been established and this is an important initiative in achieving SOCOG's over-riding objective of maximising employment opportunities for Australians wherever possible," Knight said. The Olympic Labour Network is an alliance of Australian-based recruitment agencies.
SOCOG Chief Executive Sandy Hollaway said SOCOG's staff at the beginning of September numbered 1,047 and would grow to around 2,400 by Games-time. "This is slightly less than originally planned but is still sufficient to stage a first-class Games for athletes and spectators. In preparation for the Games, SOCOG moved to its Games-time structure on 1 August, more than 12 months before the Games begin, following recommendations from previous organising committees that this structure should be in place early to assist planning and preparations," Hollaway said.
Next year is important for SOCOG's consumer products programme which has already proved to be the most successful of its kind in Olympic history. The programme seeks to raise 65 million Australian dollars in revenue, the bulk of which will be raised over the next 12 months.
To date, the Sydney 2000 range of products has sold in excess of 270 million Australian dollars, representing almost 20 million units, including over four million pins and one million T-shirts. These figures are expected to double next year. New merchandise to be released this month includes various limited edition pins, pyjamas and bags.
Over the next 11 months, SOCOG will also conduct 32 test events in a range of sports and disciplines to hone its operational readiness for the Games. SOCOG has already conducted seven test events and another nine will be conducted by the end of this month. By the end of this year, test events will have been completed in 20 sports and disciplines. Another 17 will be held next year with the last test event being in athletics in mid-August, just one month before the Games.
"SOCOG is learning valuable lessons from each test event," Hollaway said. "When the Games start, SOCOG venue teams will have been able to test their operations under competition conditions."
In many areas SOCOG has less than one year to go before it becomes fully operational. Two major events will begin well before the opening ceremony and one major event will begin two days earlier. Two days before the opening ceremony, football matches will begin in each of the interstate football cities -- Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide.
Two football venues are still unfinished. The Brisbane Cricket Ground, with a new capacity of 37,000 people, will be completed by the end of this year. The expansion to Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide will be finished in November.
The Olympic Torch relay, one of SOCOG's largest logistical challenges, will begin with the lighting of the torch in Greece on 12 May and end with its arrival in Australia at Uluru on 8 June. SOCOG selected and assembled 10,000 torch bearers to carry the torch along its 100-day journey throughout Australia. Australians aged 12 and over still have a chance to carry the torch, with applications open until 5 November.
The Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival, under the direction of Leo Schofield, opens on 18 August 2000 and will continue through 30 September. This will be a spectacular curtain raiser to the world's biggest sporting festival and will feature the cream of Australia's performing and visual artists and some of the biggest names on the international stage.
