SYDNEY -- The world's premier sporting carnival drew to a close in an extravaganza of sight and sound Sunday as the Olympic host city prepared to party the night away to bid farewell to the last Summer Games of the 20th Century.
Thousands of athletes from 199 nations conga-trained and danced their way through the Olympic closing ceremony at Stadium Australia after competing for 16 days in more than 300 events before 6.7 million ticketed spectators and a global television audience of more than 4 billion.
The event capped the end of a largely successful Olympics and the beginning of its journey to the nation to which it owes its origin for the next Games in 2004.