Ahead of the 25-year anniversary of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, The Australian Women’s Weekly Editor, Sophie Tedmanson, reflects on what it was like to be there in person, the “electric” atmosphere, and seeing Cathy Freeman make history in front of the world.
Ariarne Titmus, one of Australia’s golden girls in the pool in the Paris Olympics 2024, was born just 7 days before the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony in 2000. Her teammate, Mollie O’Callaghan, wasn’t even conceived yet. Our flag bearer and multiple kayak/canoe medallist Jessica Fox was just six years old in 2000. A then-eight-year-old Grace Brown was inspired by Cathy Freeman and Susie O’Neill to be an Olympian.
Watching our wonder women shine in the City of Light in 2024 took me back to the turn of the millennium. Back to when Sydney was the star of the show.
I first fell in love with the Olympics as a sporty running-obsessed eight-year-old. I remember begging my Dad to let me stay up late to watch the 1984 Los Angeles Games on TV with him.
Cut to 2000, and as a freshly graduated cadet reporter, I was awarded the privilege of being an Olympics reporter for News Corp. And, because our company was a media partner, I was also given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch during the relay.
I carried the Olympic flame for 500m as it made its way to Sydney. Playing my own tiny part in Olympic history remains one of the highlights of my life.
The atmosphere in Sydney during the heady fortnight of the 2000 Olympics was absolutely electric.
Australians have always been a sports-mad community. But as the host nation of the biggest sporting event in the world, it was next level.
Our iconic destinations became Olympic venues. Beach volleyball took place at Bondi Beach. The sailing events happened in Sydney Harbour. Plus, the triathlon finished at the Sydney Opera House. And all the action at Sydney Olympic Park in the west. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands who gathered at live sites around the country.
We were alive with excitement, joy, and a sea of green and gold. Even if you didn’t like sports, you couldn’t help but catch Olympic fever.
That September in 2000 changed Australia for many reasons. It was when Mary Donaldson met the then-Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark altering the course of the Danish monarchy. Plus, the nation fell in love with Cathy Freeman, Ian Thorpe, the Hockeyroos and the unlikeliest Olympic star, the pack-a-day smoker Jai Taurima, who long jumped his way to a silver medal.
We collectively adored Eric the Eel, aka Eric Moussambani. He was a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea who recorded the slowest time in Olympic history in his 100m freestyle heat. But he captured the world’s hearts with his grit and determination. Epitomising the Olympic spirit as he swam his laps virtually alone in the pool.
There was heartbreak, too. We watched Kerry Saville’s disqualification just 120m from the finish line on the cusp of winning gold for Australia in the 20km walk. It was crushing for the entire nation.
We were all glued to comedians HG & Roy and their nightly satire show, The Dream, with the stuffed toy Fatso the Fat-Assed Wombat. Fatso amusingly became the unofficial mascot of the Olympics.
And who could forget the Sydney Olympic volunteers? The Games Force of more than 40,000 smiley, happy people in the now iconic blue and white swirl uniforms who welcomed the world to our Olympics.
The turn of the millennium was an important year globally. And not just because the much-hyped Y2K bug thankfully didn’t cause the technical world to end.
John Howard was enjoying his second term as Australian Prime Minister, Bill Clinton was the US President, Vladimir Putin became President of Russia, and Donald Trump was just a flashy New York businessman.
It was the year Brad and Jen got married at the peak of Friends’ popularity. The music charts were filled with Destiny’s Child and Robbie Williams, and the Spice Girls were still together.
Locally, Powderfinger ruled our airways. Russell Crowe was preparing to win his first Oscar for Gladiator. And, in May, 250,000 Australians walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the Walk for Reconciliation. It was a powerful show of unity with Australia’s First Nations peoples.
It was a time of relative innocence and freedom, before 9/11 altered the world forever, pre-social media, pre-streaming, and pre-smartphones. MySpace didn’t launch in Australia until 2003, and Facebook followed in 2006. Netflix didn’t arrive Down Under until 2015. And while we did technically have “mobile” phones, they were more of the old-school Nokia brick variety. It would be 7 years before Apple would launch the first iPhone.
It is hard to fathom watching an event without thousands of phones held high, recording the moment. But it was a liberating time when you could actually take in the moments in real life.
The Sydney Olympics captured a moment in our collective history. It was a truly magical time, bookended by the Opening Ceremony and Closing ceremonies and Paralympics, that represented all faces of Australian culture.
The Opening Ceremony was heralded by Steve Jeffreys galloping into the Olympic Stadium on his Australian stock horse “Ammo” to the tune of “The Man From Snowy River”. There was a procession of culture, including sparkling Ned Kelly bushrangers,a 13-year-old Nikki Webster floating through the air transformed into an underwater scene, and a performance by John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John.
In contrast, the Closing Ceremony was a celebration of Australian fun and fabulousness. Kylie Minogue rocked up as a showgirl, Paul Hogan as Crocodile Dundee, Greg Norman hit soft golf balls into the crowd, Elle Macpherson walked a camera float, and even the Bananas in Pyjamas made an appearance!
As Paris did, Sydney too celebrated women at the Olympics during the Opening Ceremony. It marked a centenary of female participation with a special final leg of the torch relay featuring Australian champions, including Betty Cuthbert, Raelene Boyle, Dawn Fraser, Shirley Strickland de la Hunty, Shane Gould, Debbie Flintoff-King and Cathy Freeman. Cathy lit the Olympic cauldron under a waterfall to mark the official start of the Games.
There appeared to be a cheeky nod to Sydney at the opening ceremony in Paris. French champion runner Marie-José Perec lit the Olympic hot air balloon at the end of the opening ceremony. Marie-Jose was Cathy Freeman’s arch rival who famously fled Australia and withdrew from the Olympics just 48 hours before their 400m final in Sydney. Cathy once confessed that she thought she would have run faster had she been able to race Marie-José in Sydney.
Sydney was, of course, Cathy’s Olympics. Cathy had already been named Young Australian of the Year in 1990 and then Australian of the Year in 1998. So by 2000, when she qualified for the women’s 400m at the Sydney Olympics, the obsession with her had hit fever pitch.
There are moments in history that people always remember where they were. Cathy Freeman winning gold at the Sydney Olympics on September 25, 2000, was one of those moments.
For me, I was lucky enough to be in the Olympic Stadium that night. I watched Cathy cross the finish line to win gold and become the first Australian Aboriginal person to win an individual gold medal. It is a moment I will forever be grateful for witnessing live in person. The deafening roar of the 110,000 people who jumped to their feet in unison and the collective euphoria still make me smile.
In that one moment, she brought the entire country together in celebration and reconciliation, and of absolute national pride.
Cathy epitomised everything Australia aimed for, while also encompassing the Olympic motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together.
As Cathy said in her documentary Freeman: “Everybody was just so at one together… It’s like we were the only people who existed in the world”.
That’s how it felt to be at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
