2000 Summer Olympics of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia in Greek. Following this, Tina Arena sang a purpose-written pop song, "The Flame". The opening ceremony concluded with the lighting of the Olympic Flame. Former Australian Olympic champion Herb Elliott brought the Olympic Flame into the stadium. Then, celebrating 100 years of women's participation in the Olympic Games, former Australian women Olympic medalists: Betty Cuthbert and Raelene Boyle, Dawn Fraser, Shirley Strickland (later Shirley Strickland de la Hunty), Shane Gould and Debbie Flintoff-King brought the torch through the stadium, handing it over to Cathy Freeman, who lit the flame in the cauldron within
Bahrain at the 2000 Summer Olympics since, making Sydney their fifth appearance in a Summer Olympiad. At the time of the Sydney Games, no Bahraini athlete had ever won a medal at the Summer Olympics. The 2000 Summer Olympics were held from 15 September to 1 October 2000; a total of 10,651 athletes represented 199 National Olympic Committees. The four athletes sent by Bahrain to Sydney were sprinter Mariam Mohamed Hadi Al Hilli, middle-distance runner Mohamed Saleh Naji Haidara and short-distance swimmers Dawood Yosuf Mohamed Jassim and Fatema Hameed Gerashi. The inclusion of Al Hilli and Hameed was the first time in history that a Gulf