Sydney Olympics to go out with a bang

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Sydney: The Sydney Olympics are to go out with a bang -- a low-flying fighter bomber is to ignite a massive plume of flame and one million people will be treated to one of the world's most spectacular firework displays.

"Normally when you get to the end of an Olympic Games, there is a feeling that the whole thing is over and we are all going home," said Ignatius Jones, artistic director of Sunday's extravaganza.

"Not in Sydney. We are going out with a bang," he promised.

The F-111 fighter bomber is to "dump and burn" its fuel at 1,000 feet (300 metres) above Stadium Australia, scene of the closing ceremony where the athletes will enjoy a giant "backyard party" and be serenaded by pop star Kylie Minogue.

The fighter bomber's dramatic flight will be the signal for 24 "lightning shells" to explode like giant flashbulbs all the way down the Parramatta River to downtown Sydney where another F-111 will light up the sky over the Harbour Bridge.

It is being dubbed "the river of lightning".

Jones, in a dig at London's "river of fire" that proved a damp squib on Millennium night in Britain, said, "It will be very different from the river of fire on the Thames in that it will work."

The night sky will then be ablaze with fireworks that have a truly international flavour -- pyrotechnical experts from Spain, Japan, the United States and South Africa are all contributing to the explosion of light.

Jones has promised the display will be bigger and better than Sydney's Millennium celebrations which ranked as one of the most breathtaking on the night that saw in the new century.

"It will dwarf anything we have done before," he said of the fireworks that will be set off from four giant barges, 10 smaller boats and the rooftops of downtown skyscrapers.

Sydney loves to party and organisers expect up to one million people will pack the best vantage points around the harbour to see the 23-minute show that will consume A$3 million ($1.7 million) worth of fireworks.

The Harbour Bridge, Sydney's most beloved landmark along with the Opera House, will be the centrepiece of the festivities.

A pyrotechnical waterfall in the colours of the Olympic rings is to cascade off the bridge to signal the end of the display and the start of a night of non-stop partying for a city revelling in the praise heaped on the Millennium Games.



(c) Reuters Limited.