NZ Athletes left 'standing like cattle' after ceremony - Mills

Elation at the Sydney Olympic opening ceremony turned sour last night when the athletes spent more than an hour being herded back to the athletes' village.

New Zealand team chef de mission Les Mills labelled the treatment of athletes a "disgrace" and unnecessary as Games organisers had assured team leaders that athletes would be able to return to the village smoothly from the nearby Olympic Stadium.

Athletes and officials, who had to assemble at 5.30pm (6.30 pm NZ time) for the opening ceremony, did not get to their beds until 12.30am (1.30am NZ time).

Although most New Zealand athletes competing today did not march in the opening ceremony parade, some - like the women basketballers who were playing Poland this morning - did.

"The ceremony was fabulous. It ran long and we were expecting that and we expected to be on our feet a lot," Mills said.

"But what I thought was frankly disgraceful was the fact that it took the athletes an hour and 10 minutes for what should have been a very easy, 15 minutes at tops, walk.

"They were standing rather like cattle under the stand and they jammed up waiting for three-quarters of an hour to go through security checks."

Mills said he would complain about the fiasco at the next chefs' meeting on Sunday: "not that it will do any good because it's over now. But when someone tells you something and they fail to deliver that makes you cross".

He did not think the athletes had suffered too much but they were the key people at the Games and should be treated better in such situations.

"We don't have a group of athletes gasping their last breath," he said.

- NZPA

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