Did you know that back in the year 2000, when Sydney hosted the Summer Olympic Games, Ipswich was included as one of the destinations for the Olympic Torch relay?
In June 2000, 27 Ipswich community members were among those selected to have the honour of carrying the torch into the city as part of its world-wide journey. On its way into Ipswich city, the torch travelled via Wacol, Gailes, Goodna, Bellbird Park, Redbank Plains, Greenwood Village, Blackstone and Silkstone. It arrived at Bill Paterson Oval at around 6.50pm on 13 June, where an estimated 30,000 people were in attendance to enjoy the Olympic festivities. Norma Koplick, who later won a silver medal at the Sydney Paralympics, lit the community cauldron at Limestone Park, and a F-111 jet performed a spectacular “dump and burn” over the city.
People of different ages and walks of lives were selected to be torchbearers for the Ipswich leg of the 2000 torch relay. This contrasted greatly with the requirements imposed for torch bearers during Australia’s first ever torch relay in 1956. In that year, the runners were all men and they had to be able to complete the distance of a mile in seven minutes or less. The weight of the torch itself also varied considerably with the earlier version being around six kilograms while in 2000 the more technologically-advanced torch weighed one kilogram.
On the 14 June 2000, a community breakfast was held for residents between 5.30 and 7.00 am before the torch bearers and escorts left Ipswich to continue the torch relay into Brisbane city.
Olympic torch bearer on Brisbane Road, Booval, Ipswich, 2000 – Image Courtesy of Picture Ipswich