第27届夏季奥运会于2000年9月15日至10月1日在澳大利亚东南部港口城市悉尼举行。曾有中国首都北京在内的30余个城市表示有意承办这届千禧年奥运会，最终进入最后争办的5个城市是悉尼、北京、德国的柏林、土耳其的伊斯坦布尔和英国的曼彻斯特。

1993年9月23日主办城市揭晓的投票日，北京直到最后一轮投票时才以两票之差的微弱劣势负于悉尼，遗憾地未能获得本届奥运会的主办权。奥运会开幕前的圣火传递活动本次又有了新意，组织者充分了利用了水、陆、空各种运输方式，圣火甚至由潜水运动员带到了水下。

KEY FACTS

Opening date:15 September 2000

Closing date: 01 October 2000

Country of the host city: Sydney (AUS)

Sports: 28

SYDNEY  2000 Games of the XXVII Olympiad

The Sydney 2000 Games were the largest yet, with 10,651 athletes competing in 300 events. Despite their size, they were well organised, renewing faith in the Olympic Movement. Birgit Fischer earned two gold medals in Kayak to become the first woman in any sport to win medals 20 years apart. Judoka Ryoko Tamura lost in the final in both Barcelona and Atlanta, but came back to win the gold medal in Sydney. Steven Redgrave became the first rower to win gold medals at five consecutive Olympics. The US softball team won in stirring fashion, losing three games in a row and then coming back to defeat each of the teams they had lost to.

Do You Know? 朝鲜和韩国联合组队出现在奥运会的开幕式上

Korea (South Korea) and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) marched together under the same flag.