In September, 2000, residents of the harbour city and the people of Australia set the benchmark of how future Olympics would be measured by staging what IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch ultimately described as “the best Olympic Games ever.”
The Opening Ceremony on September 15 began with a lone horseman galloping his mount to the centre of the Olympic Stadium in front of 110,000 spectators.
The entire production was a celebration of the Australian continent.
During the Parade of Nations, North and South Korea marched together under the same flag, and four athletes from East Timor received a tremendous cheer as they paraded behind the IOC flag.
The last team to appear in the stadium was Australia, with five-time Olympian and basketball captain Andrew Gaze proudly waving the flag at the front of Australia’s largest-ever team of 632 athletes.
Sydney 2000 marked a century of women’s participation in the Olympics.
To recognise this, some of Australia’s finest female athletes carried the torch inside the stadium.
Betty Cuthbert, the Golden Girl of the Melbourne Olympics, was pushed in a wheelchair by Raelene Boyle (Cuthbert’s movement was impaired by multiple sclerosis).
Next, legends Dawn Fraser, Shirley Strickland, Shane Gould and Debbie Flintoff-King all ran with the torch.
Flintoff-King, the last Australian track gold medalist, then passed the torch to Cathy Freeman.
