China's pain fires Olympic dream

As China prepares to stage the greatest event on Earth, it is worth remembering that the Olympic dream has not come without pain for the world's most populous nation.
That pain coincided with my first real participation in the Olympic world, on September 23, 1993.
I was working in Sydney as a cadet reporter for The Australian newspaper, and roughly 20 of my fellow cadets and I were down at Circular Quay in the early hours of the morning for the big announcement from Monte Carlo of who would host the 2000 Olympics.
As the minutes ticked down, Kerri-Anne Kennerley - broadcasting from the top of the Overseas Passenger Terminal overlooking the harbour - told us that regardless of the result, everyone should be really proud of what Sydney had done.
Many of us began to get that sinking feeling that the organisers knew something we didn't, and that the Sydney bid had fallen a little short of the mark.