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Bids for the 2000 Summer Olympics
Overview · Sydney Beijing · Berlin · Istanbul · Manchester
2000 Summer Olympics
Details
Committee	International Olympic Committee
Election venue	Monte Carlo 101st IOC Session
Important dates
Decision	September 23rd
Decision
Winner	Sydney
Runner-up	Beijing

Five cities made presentations to the IOC Session in Monte Carlo to host the 2000 Summer Olympics. These were awarded to Sydney, Australia on September 23, 1993. The other cities were Beijing (China), Manchester (Great Britain), Berlin (Germany) and Istanbul (Turkey).

Brasilia, capital of Brazil, and Milan, Italy, withdrew during the bidding process - Milan shortly after submitting its bid book,^[1] Brasilia following the visit by the IOC Inspection Group, which stated that facilities were substandard. Tashkent, Uzbekistan also put in a bid for the Games, in order to gain some recognition of that country's existence and new independence,^[2] but withdrew very early into the race.

Berlin was an early front-runner, hoping to cap the decade of German re-unification by hosting the first Games of the new millennium. But the support of its bid was marred when anti-Olympic protesters marched through the city^[3] just four days before the final vote in Monaco, which came down to a head-to-head between Sydney and Beijing.

When IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch thanked the five competing cities before announcing the winning bid, many Chinese in Beijing mistook his utterance of the city's name, before any of the others, as an announcement that it had been awarded the Games, and widespread celebrations began. These were cut short just minutes later when images from Sydney came through, illustrating the fact that the Australian city had won. ^[4]

Reactions by Beijing

According to the New York Times, university students in Beijing made plans to march on the American embassy in Beijing as news of Beijing's failed bid spread. Police presence was stepped up across Beijing university campuses to prevent this from happening^[4]. There were also suggestions by Chinese officials that Beijing would boycott the 1996 Summer Olympics because of the failed bid ^[5]. The US intelligence community also reported before the vote that should Beijing lose the bid, the Chinese government would resume underground nuclear testing, in violation of a worldwide moratorium on nuclear testing ^[6]. Beijing, however, would win the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympics nearly a year after the Sydney Games.

Final selection

2000 Summer Olympics bidding results
City	NOC Name	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
Sydney	Australia	30	30	37	45
Beijing	China	32	37	40	43
Manchester	Great Britain	11	13	11	-
Berlin	Germany	9	9	-	-
Istanbul	Turkey	7	-	-	-

Logos of Losing Bids

References