Olympics to end in blaze of flames, fireworks

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Sydney: An F-111 fighter bomber will ignite a massive plume of flame over the Olympic stadium on Sunday night to start a stunning fireworks finale to the Sydney Games.

"It is utterly spectacular," said Ignatius Jones, artistic director of what he billed as one of the biggest firework shows on earth.

"The people in the stadium will feel the heat, most definitely."

The Australian air force F-111 will fly 1,000 feet (300 metres) above Stadium Australia as the closing ceremony ends.

"It will jettison most of its fuel and ignite it with its after-burn," Jones told Reuters. "It catches fire very quickly and forms this 1,000 foot plume of flame."

Dump and burn

Lightning shells will then explode like giant flashbulbs at 24 points along the Parramatta River from the stadium to downtown Sydney, where another F-111 will perform a second "dump and burn" operation above the famous Harbour Bridge.

"It's like a giant firework that lights at the stadium and then burns down the river," Jones said.

"It will be very different from the river of fire on the Thames in that it will work."

He was referring to London's ambitious millennium fireworks show, a New Year's Eve flop that was hugely upstaged by Sydney's impressive pyrotechnical welcome to the 21st century.

Jones, who masterminded that display, said Sunday's Olympic extravaganza would be far bigger, with the Harbour Bridge threaded with fireworks and yet more on four giant barges, 10 smaller boats and the rooftops of seven buildings.

"At the end of the show we're shooting two 24-inch shells, almost the biggest shells you shoot at all," Jones said.

"The biggest are 36-inch shells but they would actually blow up the pyrotechnicians."

The 23-minute show, which will consume A$3 million ($1.7 million) worth of fireworks, will also include a simultaneous fireburst of colour from 41 sites spread over more than 16 km (10 miles).

"That will be geographically the largest pyrotechnic effect in history," Jones said.

The display will be watched by millions of Olympic revellers in Sydney and billions more on television across the globe.

Jones said only winds of over 35 knots in Sydney harbour could cause problems on the night.

"I've been doing New Year shows (in Sydney) since 1996," he said. "I kind of have an idea of what we're doing."



(c) Reuters Limited.