More than 300 former athletes from nearly 30 countries, including 38 gold medalists, and several thousand spectators turned out Sunday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Melbourne Olympics.

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Fellow 1500-meter athlete John Landy, who won bronze in Melbourne, again read the Athletes' Oath while current Australian Olympians including Australian rower James Tomkins and skier Alisa Camplin carried the Olympic flag into the stadium.

Landy is now the governor of Victoria state, of which Melbourne is capital.

English athlete Ken Williams, who swam in the 100-meter freestyle and 4x200 relay, traveled from Staffordshire for the celebrations.

"I thought the ceremony was really rather special and felt very emotional at times," he said. "It brought back a lot of memories.

"I remember walking into the MCG in 1956 with such a great sense of anticipation and there was a crescendo of noise, it was a dream-come-true."

The 1956 Games, featuring 3,258 athletes from 72 countries, began on November 22, 1956 and closed on December 8, the latest in the year the Summer Olympics have ever been staged.