Editing 2000 Summer Olympics (section)

====Day 17: 1 October====
{{See also|2000 Summer Olympics closing ceremony}}
[[File:Fireworks, Sydney Harbour Bridge, 2000 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.jpg|thumb|right|Olympic colours on the [[Sydney Harbour Bridge]].]]
The last event of the games was the Men's Marathon, contested on a course that started in North Sydney. The event was won by [[Ethiopia]]n [[Gezahegne Abera]], with Kenyan [[Erick Wainaina]] second, and [[Tesfaye Tola]], also of Ethiopia, third. It was the first time since the 1968 Olympics that an Ethiopian won the gold medal in this event.

The closing ceremony commenced with [[Christine Anu]] performing her version of the [[Warumpi Band]]'s song "[[My Island Home]]", with several [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal]] dancers atop the Geodome Stage in the middle of the stadium, around which several hundred umbrella and lamp box kids created an image of Aboriginal Dreamtime. The Geodome Stage was used throughout the ceremony, which was a flat stage mechanically raised into the shape of a [[Geode]].

IOC President [[Juan Antonio Samaranch]] declared at the Closing Ceremony,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/02/sports/sydney-2000-closing-ceremony-a-fond-farewell-from-australia.html|title=Sydney 2000: Closing Ceremony; A fond farewell from Australia|date=2 October 2000|first=Jere|last=Longman|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=12 May 2010|archive-date=9 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709000239/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/02/sports/sydney-2000-closing-ceremony-a-fond-farewell-from-australia.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{blockquote|I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic Games ever.}}
Subsequent Summer Olympics held in [[2004 Summer Olympics|Athens]], [[2008 Summer Olympics|Beijing]] and [[2012 Summer Olympics|London]] have been described by Samaranch's successor [[Jacques Rogge]] as "unforgettable, dream Games", "truly exceptional" and "happy and glorious games" respectively&nbsp;– the practice of declaring games the "best ever" having been retired after the 2000 Games.