Olympics 2000 Opening Ceremonies – Sydney, Australia

At the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympics, a cast of 12,500 performed for a huge arena audience and hundreds of millions worldwide. What does it take to coordinate and broadcast such an overwhelming enterprise?

Larry Estrin, Director of Communications, says "this Opening Ceremony is equal to the last ten Superbowls combined." A staff of 140 people worked the audio and communications systems. At the heart of the communications system was a 72-port Clear-Com Matrix Plus¨ digital intercom system.

Over 100 party-line drops on 18 channels were run through the digital matrix, along with walkie-talkies on a dozen matrix ports, and wireless intercom via 4-wire interfaces. Several hundred wired and mobile phones were used. A quantity of multi-key Matrix Plus intercom display stations were used by the producers and directors.

The multi-level "stage" with eleven aerial lines was used to fullest advantage in the "Deep Sea Dreaming" piece, where performers and props floated by in a three-dimensional virtual sea. Three channels with a total of 18 party-line drops were used to coordinate the aerial action.

Other highlights of the show included a 2,000-piece marching band, the "Nature" tribute to the Australian flora and fauna with its cast of 800, the elaborately costumed "Arrivals" with 2,000 performers, the lighting of the Olympic flame, and the Parade of the Athletes - 10,000 strong.

Three links with SOBO (the Sydney Olympics Broadcast Organization) came from the Matrix Plus for director, audio, and video. SOBO's center was about a mile away from the arena, so fiber transmission was used. The show communications system was also tied on two ports to the house audio and video system.

The Opening Ceremony was an amazingly complex job of show coordination. Larry Estrin's summary: "The system we put together performed beautifully, and everybody was very happy with the comms." Thus ended one of the most ambitious live performance events ever broadcast.

Equipment List:
Compact 72 Digital Intercom
IMF-3 Interface Frame
CCI-22 Party-line Interfaces
ICS-92 Display Stations
FOR-22 Two-Way Radio Interfaces
TEL-14 Telephone Interfaces
ICS-2003 Display Stations