POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Sydney Olympic Games banner

Object No. 2001/84/577

This vertical banner was designed by the Look of the Games Committee to decorate one of the indoor venues for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Its design features the logo of the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic rings, against a white background. Thousands of banners decorated Olympic venues and the city of Sydney during the Games, serving to unify public areas through their shared visual theme. French educator, Baron Pierre de Courbetin, conceived of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) logo in 1896 with the birth of the modern Olympic movement. Comprising five interlinking rings in blue, black, red, yellow and green, it symbolises five continents coming together to participate in Olympic competition. Today, this is one of the world's most recognised corporate logos, and its use is carefully guarded by the IOC. In 1998, the Look of the Games Committee incorporated the Olympic rings within its branding package, and applied this motif to graphic designs and venue decorations. Conveying a sense of youth, energy and optimism, the Sydney 2000 branding package, or 'kit of parts', unified and enlivened all visual components of the Sydney Olympic Games. Developed in 1998 by the Look of the Games Committee, the kit was applied to all three dimensional objects that propped the Olympic venues, including signage, temporary architecture, fence fabric, banners and banner poles, press backdrops, the 'kiss and cry' area for gymnasts and sports equipment. The kit contained both major and minor branding elements, including the Olympic rings, the Sydney 2000 trademark, 'Millennium Man', the 'Fluid Energy' motif, a colour palette, typography, mascots, vignettes and pictograms. Aside from the Olympic rings, these elements referenced Australian culture and landscapes, and branded the Olympic Games with a uniquely Australian theme.