Classic TV Guides: The winner is… Sydney!

It is 25 years since the Monte Carlo announcement of Sydney as the host city of the 2000 Olympic Games.

Sydney won the vote of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members against competing bids by Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester. Speeches by the Prime Minister Paul Keating and his wife Annita, New South Wales Premier John Fahey, Olympic champion Kieren Perkins and bid chief Rod McKeogh were overshadowed by that of 11-year-old schoolgirl Tanya Blencowe, who won the crowd over with her impassioned plea for the world to come to Sydney in the year 2000.

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The day was also the beginning of a long-running TV tradition. Sydney’s The Footy Show, a Sunday afternoon program, was presenting a Grand Final eve special edition in prime time.  Like the Melbourne show of the same name, The Footy Show would go on to become a regular prime time fixture from 1994 onwards.

The TV guide for the day is among the latest additions to Classic TV Guides:

• Saturday 25 September 1965 — VICTORIA VFL Grand Final
• Monday 20 September 1971 — MELBOURNE Money Makers, His And Hers, Monday Conference
• Friday 8 March 1974 — MELBOURNE TV Week Logie Awards
• Friday 3 May 1974 — MELBOURNE The Mannequin And Photographic Model Of The Year Awards
• Wednesday 12 May 1976 — NEW SOUTH WALES
• Wednesday 12 May 1976 — CANBERRA
• Saturday 5 June 1976 — MELBOURNE Young Talent Time 5th Anniversary. Pot O’ Gold Grand Final
• Sunday 31 October 1976 — SOUTH AUSTRALIA SAS10 Christmas Telethon
• Monday 13 August 1984 — BRISBANE Closing Ceremony Olympic Games
• Saturday 8 June 1985 — MELBOURNE
• Monday 23 August 1993 — MELBOURNE Worldwatch begins
• Friday 24 September 1993 — SYDNEY Announcement of host city for 2000 Olympic Games. The Footy Show begins
• Monday 22 November 1993 — MELBOURNE Final A Country Practice on Seven
• Monday 11 February 2002 — MELBOURNE Shafted begins. Winter Olympics from Salt Lake City.
• Monday 11 February 2002 — WESTERN AUSTRALIA Shafted begins. Winter Olympics from Salt Lake City