IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch declared at the Closing Ceremony,

"I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic Games ever."

It has been nine years this month! How time does indeed fly!  Since the City of Sydney  Australia, hosted the Summer Olympic Games. Considered by many as the 'best games' ever. Including none other than Juan Antonio Samaranch the then President of the International Olympic Committee .  Incredibly after more than nine years there are still people who meet and socialize and share stories of their Sydney Olympic Games Experience.  Nine years on there  are still groups that meet as friends of the 2000 Olympic Games...

This is really incredible ! I was a volunteer in Sydney and I get regular updates on what the Friends of the Sydney Olympics are doing.  Many of them travelled as a group to the 2004 Barcelona Olympics and participated there as volunteers.  Many of the volunteers from Australia  also participated as volunteers in Beijing last year 2008.

I am looking forward to participating in the London Games in 2012. I have already registered my interest...better start saving.

At the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony a  record 199 nations entered the stadium.  A record 80 of them went on  to win at least one medal. The only missing IOC member being Afghanistan suspended due to the Taliban regime's prohibition against practicing any kind of sports. The ceremony featured a unified entrance by the athletes of North and South Korea, using a specially designed unification flag.

The Olympic flag was carried by these former Australian Olympians The Olympic Flag was carried around the arena by eight former Australian Olympic champions: Bill Roycroft, Murray Rose, Liane Tooth, Gillian Rolton, Marjorie Jackson, Lorraine Crapp, Michael Wenden and Nick Green.

This is one view of the economic benefit.  But there are other more favourable views.  In 2002, the Auditor-General of New South Wales reported that the Sydney Games cost 6.6 billion, with a net cost to the public between $AUD 1.7 and 2.4 billion.

It has been estimated that the economic impact of the 2000 Olympics was that $AUD 2.1 billion has been shaved from public consumption. Economic growth was not stimulated to a net benefit and in the years since 2000, foreign tourism to NSW grew by less than tourism to Australia as a whole. A "multiplier" effect on broader economic development is not realised as a simple "multiplier" analysis fails to capture is that resources have to be redirected from elsewhere: the building of a stadium is at the expense of other public works such as extensions to hospitals. Building sporting venues does not add to the aggregate stock of productive capital in the years following the Games: "Equestrian centres, softball compounds and man-made rapids are not particularly useful beyond their immediate function