On 5 August 1996, a team of 300 Australian schoolchildren, Australian Olympic athletes and Aboriginal performers featured in a seven-minute segment of the Closing Ceremony for the Atlanta Olympic Games - an event in which Atlanta yielded its Olympic responsibilities to Sydney, the next host city. A team of twelve Sydney boys dressed in inflatable kangaroo costumes, designed by David Atkins, rode onto the arena on mountain bikes including this one made by 'Clamont'. Other performers included Aboriginal dancers and children dressed as waratahs and sulphur-crested cockatoos, while a team of Bondi lifesavers carried inflatable tubes that connected to resemble the Sydney Opera House.

Segment director, Ric Birch, selected these themes to create "an indelible, young, inspiring image of Australia entering the third millennium". Together, they would help culminate ten days of Olympic sport and would turn the world's attention to Sydney, host of the 2000 Olympic Games. Though the performance was well received in the United States, it was met with great criticism in Australia where the inflatable kangaroo costumes were considered unforgivably kitsch by many. The day after the ceremony, Australian newspapers carried scathing articles and letters that condemned the hand-over ceremony, particularly the kangaroo costumes. This embarrassment would not subside until the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games (also directed by Ric Birch) that amazed Australian audiences and received international acclaim. In his usual tongue-in-cheek style, Atkins made a brief appearance in the Sydney Olympic Games Closing Ceremony wearing an inflatable kangaroo costume and riding a Clamont bike.

This mountain bike was designed by 'Clamont' and sold by one of its Sydney distributors. David Atkins designed the inflatable kangaroo costumes that seemed to bound with the bikes' movement.

This mountain bike was made by 'Clamont' and sold by a Sydney distributor at Clarence Street in Sydney.

This 'Clamont' bike was one of twelve that were ridden in the hand-over segment in the Closing Ceremony for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. The cyclists were dressed in inflatable kangaroo costumes that appeared to bound with the bike's movement.

Made for and owned by the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and donated to the Powerhouse Museum after the Games.

Bicycle, aluminium / plastic / rubber, made by 'Clamont' and sold through the Sydney distributor, from one of 'Kangaroos on Bikes' costumes worn in the hand-over segment of the Closing Ceremony of the Atlanta Olympic Games.

BMX bike, "Clamont" style, orange painted aluminum frame, made from Columbus tubing, 2 black rubber tyres and a black synthetic seat. The handlebars have black plastic grips, a manually sounded metal bell on the left hand side, and hand brake on the right handle bar. One red diamond-shaped plastic reflector is situated at the front of the steering column, and another is at the back behind the rear tyre. The frame of the bike is covered in several stickers including the 5 coloured Olympic rings and black text "2000". Along the lower bar of the frame is a sticker with "Clamont" in white text. Further along this bar is a black rectangular label with white text "Sold and Serviced/ by/ Clarence St/ Cyclery/ 104 Clarence St/ Sydney/ 2994962".

Made: 2000

2001/84/62

2000

855 mm

600 mm