Carrying a torch

Staying with Sydney, the official Olympic 2000 website has carried out an early opinion poll as to who should have the honour of lighting the Olympic Flame at the opening ceremony. The clear favourite was three-time Olympic gold medallist Dawn Fraser, who won the 100 metres freestyle in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Games. Second choice was 400 metre sprinter Cathy Freeman, probably the highest-profile Aboriginal woman in Australia.

Some of the other nominations, however, make for more interesting reading. While the likes of cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman and distance runner Ron Clarke are equally deserving of their nominations, one wonders what inspired choices such as Elle Macpherson, Nicole Kidman and Mel Gibson. Even more surprisingly, there were strong nominations for other Australian legends Crocodile Dundee and, uh, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

Voters were even more unified on how to light the Olympic cauldron. An incendiary boomerang of sort was deemed essential, even if the thorny issue remained as to how someone is supposed to catch a flaming boomerang. Anyway, keep up to date on similar Olympic-countdown trivia at www.olympics.com