Olympic Fever Hits Town – Olympics Day 1
Yeah not much else going on around Sydney that’s not Olympic related and Hear Ye! is definitely going to reflect this fact over the next couple weeks (what else would you expect from someone living in the Olympic city?). Was there today. George St was pretty much blocked off for the torch relay and the streets were packed with Sydneysiders and tourists. The atmosphere is awesome – everything feels so alive in the CBD. I’ve got some photos that I’ll be posting up later on. Opening ceremony is today, 7pm (GMT+11). Since I wasn’t one of the lucky 110,000 who got a ticket to the ceremony at Stadium Oz, I’ll be over at a friend’s place catching it on the TV. Don’t miss it, it should be absolutely spectacular. As those Fosters ads say, “I believe Australia is the best address in the world.”
Saturday sees the events kick off with the Triathlon. Australia should get a gold medal or two out of that :). I remember during the last Olympics that whenever news broke that Australia won another gold, everyone seemed to be buoyed by the fact, and it showed – the general mood of people seemed more upbeat. I don’t know if it’s like this in other countries, but sport is a big part of Aussie culture. I guess you could say because we don’t memorise our constitution, or learn who our Prime Ministers were, or even know the history of our country very well, that sport is the way we display our patriotism. And I reckon that it’s a much more vibrant way to show it, than being able to recite from memory the names of 50 states in reverse alphabetical order. Go the green and gold!
More Olympic coverage from Plutonia & Elementary Funk (any more Sydney e/n sites?)
3:00am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow 
