SYDNEY -- Scrubbed and polished, the Olympics city is looking good. Sydneysiders are all-welcoming as the world jets in for Olympic Games 2000. So why are we so worried?
For starters, there's media talk of possible terrorist attacks. Next, there are doubts over transporting so many international visitors into the picture-perfect games venue. Finally, there is the question of whether foreign activists will try to stir up protesting Aborigines.
The Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, SOCOG, surely the most criticized public body in local history, is confident the agonized-over preparations will be vindicated in a seamless display of every kind of competitive summer athletics. Quietly, Australians made skeptical by SOCOG's past bungles -- not to mention scandals generated within the world sports body, the International Olympic Committee -- have their fingers crossed.