Sydney Games Closing Ceremony

S Y D N E Y, Australia, Oct. 1 -- From the fields of play to Sydney’sspectacular harbor, Australia and the world’s athletes bid goodbyetoday to two weeks of sporting triumphs and doping embarrassments— a memorable Summer Olympics eager to claim its title of “bestgames ever.”

Fireworks exploded across the Sydney sky, heralding an 8.5-mile“fuse” designed to carry the Olympic torch’s symbolic light fromthe main stadium along barges in Homebush Bay to a jam-packeddowntown, where the majestic Harbor Bridge for an explosion oflight.

“Seven years ago, I said, ‘And the winner is Sydney,’” saidJuan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International OlympicCommittee, in remarks prepared for delivery. “Well, what can I saynow? Maybe, with my Spanish accent, ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.’”

The crowd of 100,000 thundered the response now known across theworld: “Oi! Oi! Oi!”

Giddy Fans and ‘Crocodile Dundee’

Organizers wanted a relaxed closing show that let competitorsand spectators send the games off in style. And a raucous,untethered, schticky party they got.

It veered oddly among comedy (slapstick routines), ancientritualism (Greek priestesses in flowing dresses) and the simplyhallucinogenic (a giant upended fish skeleton and shrimp onbicycles) — testament to what choreography, technology and anarenaful of enthusiastic spectators can do.

The festivities began minutes after Elias Rodriguez ofMicronesia ran into Olympic Stadium, ending the men’s marathon andfreeing the arena for athletes to swarm in. And if anyone worriedthese would be dubbed the “Drug Games,” it didn’t show tonight: The Olympic flame went dark, but the partying went on.

Olympics-giddy fans and volunteers packed a stadium cracklingwith energy. They did the wave, flashed flashlights by thethousands into a crystal-clear night and chanted that spirited“Aussie” chant.