By JIM KERNAGHAN -- London Free Press
 SYDNEY -- Everyone wants to get into Olympic Games events, but here's a story of two guys scrambling to get out.

 Unlike the two jail escapees here who commandeered a van to make their getaway this week, Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun and I commandeered a table before going over the wall.

 It was shortly after 1 a.m. Sydney time and we're the last to leave the massive Darling Harbour Exhibition Hall after watching Nicolas Gill win a judo silver for Canada. Oh-oh, the gates are padlocked.

 Like those incarcerated anywhere, we look plaintively through the bars. Thousands of free folks revel noisily on the broad esplanade surrounding the picturesque harbour.

 How to get over the 10-foot iron gates? Aha, we spot a table at a security checkpoint and drag it over for the breakout.

 How to negotiate the (shudder) pointy tops of the bars?

 Carefully, very carefully.

 After a few "you-go-firsts" not entirely based on gentility, I climb onto the table, haul myself up and inch over the top. Simmons throws our lap-tops over and follows.

 Together, we slip through the palms and blend into the crowd, free at last.

 Upon reflection, we should have left with Gill.

 The Montreal strongman could have tossed us over.