'Optimism that has grabbed Sydney is outrageous'

Sydney: Like the now lit fire at the Homebush Olympic cauldron, Sydney is jumping. With the Opening Ceremony over and done with, there is a sigh of relief.

Before it's entry into Sydney on Thursday, the last time the Olympic flame was in Sydney, an imposter created havoc with a homemade replica of the real thing. It was back in 1956 and the torch was on its way to Melbourne.

Perry Larkin, then a University student, decided to pull a hoax by making a homemade look-alike torch from a brome handle, a tin can and a pair of boxer shorts dipped in gasoline.

Dressed in athletic attire, he ran to Town Hall and handed the false flame to the waiting Mayor of Sydney. It was only when the Mayor was half way through his speech and the real torch arrived that the hoax was uncovered.

Today the word 'larrikin' is Strine (Australian!) to describe a mischievous young person who has little regard for convention or tradition, such as cricketers Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee in their heydays.

On Friday, with 1956 larrikin Perry Larkin looking on at Stadium Australia in Homebush, there were no imposters carrying the Olympic torch, and now Sydney is one big sporting party. With sunny days and the city tarted up like never before, it is one hell of a party.

Going off, showing off, whatever you want to call it, Sydney is swinging from the Olympic chandelier with a gusto that defies belief. Looking as scrubbed and polished as an altar boy, Australia's biggest metropolis is now into what surely is its biggest ever challenge.

While the countdown to the Opening Ceremony, was comparable to water torture, this normally bad-tempered, bombastic but beautiful city has never looked better.

Teased with bright, sunny days since last week and draped in tens of thousands of colourful flags that drip from every light-pole, the Central Business District, Darling Harbour and Circular Quay have provided the world's media with almost screen-saver like backdrops for interviews and news stories focusing on Australia's cultural and social fabric.

It's worth billions in free publicity, which you couldn't buy with all of Olympic special guest Bill Gates' brass. Let's be honest. There's plenty to show off about.

The Sydney Opera House is understandably the focal point for hundreds of thousands of visitors who now carpet the walkways, cafes, shops and pubs that pepper the Quay along the harbour and the historic Rocks area nearby.

In the waters of the harbour, venue of the swimming leg of the men's and women's triathlon, divers in black and bright yellow suits are going through final trials of equipment which will be used for the first time at Olympic Games.

When the women triathletes take off on their swim on Saturday morning to decide the first gold medal of the Games, the divers will be swimming under them. Each diver will be fitted with a gadget, which can detect sharks and crocodiles.

The divers won't be around for the Olympic sailors who, for the first time in Olympic history, will be competing in a "live/ working" harbour. However, there is reassurance for the sailors in research which shows that sharks and crocs never venture into Sydney's harbour waters in these Spring months.