©IOC Giulio Locatelli

The answer to this question is found partly in the name that Nag Arnoldi chose for his creation: "Olympic Door of the Year 2000". Other explanatory elements emerge from looking at the sculpture itself. We can see a large door, partially open, comprising the Olympic rings on its two columns and the figure “2000” inscribed on the lintel. At the top of this structure are four moving characters, holding aloft the Olympic rings. This sculpture symbolises, on the eve of the year 2000, an open door to success and victory. It invites the people of the whole world to cross the threshold of the new Millennium and puts into their hands the next Olympic Games.

In addition to this bronze sculpture, which is 6m high and weighs 3,500kg, Nag Arnoldi also produced 250 small-scale replicas (41cm high, weighing 5.5kg). These replicas, ordered by the IOC, were presented to various government representatives via the 200 National Olympic Committees.