Tashkent, Uzbekistan, also put in a bid for the Games, in order to gain some recognition of that country's existence and new independence,[2] but withdrew very early into the race.

But the support of its bid was marred when anti-Olympic protesters marched through the city just four days before the final vote in Monaco claiming that the games would deny funds to further domestic reconstruction efforts.

A promotional video shown to the IOC depicting London landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge was criticized heavily by the British media who said that Manchester's bid was 'suffering from an identity crisis'.

The impending announcement of the host city came down to a head-to-head between Sydney and Beijing with Manchester, Berlin and Istanbul ranked outsiders.

[6] The Beijing loss to Sydney was seen as a "significant blow" to an "urgent political priority" of the Communist Party leadership, which had mounted the most vigorous 2000 Olympic games campaign of any nation.

[5] Before the vote, the US intelligence community reported that should Beijing lose the bid, the Chinese government would resume underground nuclear testing, despite the worldwide moratorium on the process.

The Program provided $2 million in total to support the development of Africa's athletes and coaches who participated in the 2000 Olympic Games.