Parade Raises The Standards High
Newcastle Herald
Thursday October 19, 2000
THOUSANDS of lights flickered in the darkness of Stadium Australia; torches, like 87,000 stars, welcoming the shining lights of the 11th Paralympic Games, the athletes who worked so hard for so long to be there.
As the first verse of Advance Australia Fair rose into the atmosphere last night the rain poured but the audience made its cheers just as loud and quickly warmed to the electric atmosphere the Games had ignited.
The rain ended just before the first of the teams of athletes entered while school children twirled star-shaped flags in the middle of the Stadium.
Australian flag-bearer Brendan Burkett said the whole Paralympic atmosphere was something that would stay with the Australians for years to come.
`You don't march into the opening ceremony, you float.'
Opening Ceremony narrator Brian Brown asked: `What makes these Games different?
`The challenge.'
A white blimp hovered above the action in the stadium as 1300 school children worked frantically below, attacking fibre cement squares with paint and rollers.
The helium-filled blimp, a symbol of human achievement, was flown by 18-year-old wheelchair racer Angie Ballard, who worked and steered the craft with her arms.
In the crowd, the familiar green and gold wigs, Australian flag tattoos and even the Mexican wave had made a reappearance.
People were draped in large Australian flags, waved smaller hand-held flags and many, sensibly and patriotically, wore bright yellow plastic raincoats.
Most spectators were unconcerned about the weather.
`We would be here if it was hailing or snowing,' said Matthew Devine, the brother of ID basketballer Tim Devine.
There was a family feeling to the night, with many elderly spectators not willing to miss the spectacle.
`It really is once in a lifetime,' said Gwen Drinkwater, 85, from Baulkham Hills. Her daughter had convinced her to support the Paralympians.
`They deserve as much, if not more support, as anyone else,' she said.
© 2000 Newcastle Herald