Sydney sizzles, declares itself ready

On the eve of Friday’s formal opening ceremony, the packed football tournament went into its second day of competition. Brazil got their campaign for the men’s gold off to a winning start, with Spain, Japan and Chile also taking two points. In the women’s tournament, arch-rivals United States and China negotiated safe openings in their "group of death."

Off the field, the North and South Koreans put politics behind them as they agreed to wear identical uniforms when they march together in Friday’s opening ceremony. Swimming icon Dawn Fraser was officially forgiven for her late night flag-stealing romp at the Emperor’s Palace during the Tokyo Olympics 36 years ago, being invited by IOC supremo Juan Antonio Samaranch to be his "first lady" of the Games.

Polevaulters, meanwhile, joined a growing list of archers, rowers, shooters, runners, sailors and beach volleyballers in expressing fears that blustery conditions could disrupt competition and in some cases reduce the outcome to a lottery. World record polevaulter Sergei Bubka bluntly described conditions as "dangerous."

But there was an absence of wind on a balmy Thursday, as Sydneysiders and tourists let their Olympic fever show. Television reports put the crowd at one million, as celebrities including singer Olivia Newton-John, tennis ace Pat Rafter and golf’s Karrie Webb joined the torch relay. "I always knew Australians would get behind the Olympics, but I never thought it would be like this," said former swimming star Murray Rose.

But running with the flame is one thing, taking a bus is another. Desperate Games organisers launched an appeal for 500 volunteer navigators to help prevent out-of-town bus drivers getting lost. The plea came after more than 100 angry bus drivers quit in a protest over their working conditions, fuelling fears of a rerun of the transport fiasco that marred the 1996 Atlanta Games.

The drugs issue also refused to go away with Uzbek trainer Sergei Voynov, allegedly caught with 15 vials of human growth hormone at Sydney airport, told he will be charged with attempting to import a prohibited substance. In weightlifting, where there have been several drug suspensions in recent days, the unexplained pull-outs of two Chinese and two Greek lifters darkened the cloud hanging over the sport.

Wanting to compete but being made to wait were legendary Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey and Germany’s former Olympic 5,000m champion Dieter Baumann. Ottey, insisting on running the 100m, was told by Jamaican officials she can only start if one of the three athletes who beat her at the trials don’t meet set standards in training.

Baumann, not yet in Sydney, will have to wait until the eve of the 10,000 metres heats on September 20 before the IAAF rules if he will be banned for testing postive for the steroid nandrolone.

The hardluck absentee from the Games competition is Democratic Republic of Congo boxer Kakonga Jesus Kibande, counted out after missing his original flight and arriving in Sydney just hours after Thursday’s weigh-in deadline.

But with the flame in Sydney, and fine weather forecast for the opening, the one thing remaining was to get a ticket. That didn’t become any easier when the man known as the "Godfather of Scalping", American Douglas Weinstein, was deported from Australia just hours after his arrival. (AFP)