OLYMPICS

Sydney 2000 set a new Olympic record for ticket sales, with more than 87 per cent of available tickets sold. The IOC has confirmed this breaks the previous record of ticket sales of more than 82 per cent set in Atlanta.

By Thursday, 28 September ticket sales had totaled 6.7 million tickets worth $A775 million in gross revenue.

On day eight of the Games, attendance at Sydney Olympic Park totaled 400,345 for the day, a new record. By Thursday, 28 September, 3,767,985 people had traveled to Sydney Olympic Park.

In retail terms, Sydney 2000 has been the most successful of the modern Olympic Games, selling more than $A420 million in retail products since 1997.

More than five million hours were given by the 47,000 volunteers in addition to another 500,000 given by volunteers in part time roles in the seven years leading up to the Games.

The Sydney 2000 Games were broadcast in more countries and territories than any Olympic Games in history - 220 countries compared with 214 countries for the Atlanta Games and 193 countries for the Barcelona Games.

The Sydney 2000 Games wrote a new chapter in Internet history. The official Olympic site had more than nine billion hits during the Sydney Games. This topped the previous record of 634 million hits at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games.

The gamesinfo web site averaged one million hits a day during the Games, making it the most successful web site every put together by the public sector in Australia.

Sydney experienced its biggest transport day when the Olympic athletic competition started on Friday, 22 September. On that day, bus and train passengers totaled more than 1.9 million. By Thursday, 28 September, the cumulative total of Olympic train and bus passengers was 22,684,000.

Sydney Ferries had a record 80,322 passengers on Sunday, 24 September. Ferries carried a total of 731,020 over the period of the Games.

Athletes at the Olympic Village devoured more than one million meals. What was the most popular dish on the menu? Char-grilled Tasmanian salmon kebabs.

Sydney turned up the heat during the Games. Friday, 29 September was the second hottest September day on record. The temperature reached 34.5 degrees centigrade, just short of the record of 34.6 degrees centigrade set in September, 1965.

Staff working in the Common Domain areas of Sydney Olympic Park ate one billion lollies (candies) during the Games. That averages out at six lollies per person per day.