A quarter of a century ago, Sydney hosted the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, changing the city forever.

As a twenty-mumble-year-old Sydneysider, I remember waving my homemade cardboard and cellophane Olympic torch by the side of the road as the torch relay passed by on its way to the stadium.

It’s hard to convey the impact the Sydney Games had on the city and country to those who don’t remember them (i.e. most of the TDA newsroom).

In the spirit of the Olympics, however, I won’t let the fear of doing something difficult stop me.

Let’s take a walk back in time together.

Hosting the Olympics and Paralympics is, to put it lightly, an enormous undertaking. The checklist a city needs to host a successful Games is not long, but each point is a commitment to years of work and billions of dollars.

A city needs:

✅ Pools; running tracks; tennis, basketball, and beach volleyball courts; golf courses; archery ranges; shooting ranges; gymnasiums; velodromes; equestrian courses; water courses for rowing, open-water swimming, and kayak events, etc.

✅ Accessible housing for the athletes and para-athletes

✅ Hotel rooms to house thousands of tourists, journalists, and officials

✅ A stadium big enough to watch major events and host the parade of athletes at the opening ceremony

✅ Transport for people to get to and from events

The list of places willing to sign up to such an expensive and difficult promise has narrowed in recent years, and even sparked protests in prospective host cities. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has moved towards increasingly longer lead times for cities (beyond the typical seven-year window), likely to increase the chances of a successful, sustainable Games.

Plans to host the Olympics in Sydney were being mulled as early as the 1970s. By the time the opportunity arose in the early 1990s to bid for the 2000 Games, a certain level of financial and cultural support was already in place. That may have been one of the reasons Sydney’s Olympic bid and subsequent Games were so successful.

More support was to come, with John Coates, a crucial member of the Sydney Olympic Games Committee (SOCOG), later admitting he had offered grants to African nations to guarantee their support for the bid.

On 24 September 1993, Australia put forward its final case for a Sydney Games at an IOC meeting.

Among the delegation of Aussie representatives was 11-year-old schoolgirl Tanya Blencowe, who gave a speech describing Sydney as a "friendly city where it doesn't matter where you come from".

After a 40-minute presentation, Sydney officially secured the 2000 Olympics.

Rising hometown superstar Ian Thorpe carried the hopes of a nation into his Olympic debut at the age of 17. Adding to the pressure was American swimmer Gary Hall Jr’s claim that Team USA would “smash Australia like guitars” in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay. After all, they were an undefeated force in that event.

On day one of the swimming competition, Thorpey lined up on the blocks for his first-ever Olympic race – the 400m freestyle. He set an Olympic record (3:44.65) in his heat to qualify for the finals. Less than nine hours later, he swam four seconds faster to win his first gold medal and set a world record (3:40:59).

About an hour later, Michael Klim set the scene for the Australian men’s relay with a world record opening 100m swim. Chris Fydler and Ashley Callus continued the fight, but it was up to Thorpe to bring it home for the Aussies.

Thorpey turned into the final 50m a fraction behind Hall. But the teen sensation chased him down to secure gold. The Aussie team broke both the world record and the U.S’ winning streak that night.

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Three days later, another legend was born in the Sydney Olympic pool: the story of Eric the Eel.

The tiny West African nation of Equatorial Guinea is not known for its swimming successes. Eric Moussambani was the first swimmer ever to represent the country, and arrived at the Sydney Games as a wildcard entry invited by the IOC.

He had learned to swim eight months earlier.

Moussambani’s first time swimming the length of a 50m pool was during his 100m freestyle heat.

As he made his way down the pool, the only swimmer in his heat, the crowd began to cheer. When he finally made it to the end, they nearly blew the roof off the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

No conversation about the Sydney Olympics is complete without mentioning Cathy Freeman’s extraordinary gold medal in the 400m.

Words fail: just try to watch it without getting goosebumps.

It was Australia’s 100th Olympic gold medal, and the first individual gold won by a First Nations Australian.

Then, before a crowd of 110,000, Freeman draped herself in the Australian and Aboriginal flags for her victory lap, risking disciplinary action from the IOC, or the same reprimand she had faced for doing the same thing at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.

Australia was not finished making history yet, with the Olympic success followed by the first Paralympics to sell more than a million tickets.

Australian para-athletes scored 149 medals, topping the medal table for the first time (and the only time to date). Overall, more than 300 records were broken, including the record for athlete participation.

Siobhan Paton starred for Australia in the pool, picking up six gold medals and breaking as many records in the process.

The success continued with legendary para-athlete Louise Sauvage, who won two golds and a silver at her final Games. She’s since gone on to coach Madison de Rozario, who matched her feat of two golds at the same Games in Tokyo in 2021.

Beyond its physical legacy with Sydney Olympic Park, the Games also had a personal impact on Australians. One in particular: Tasmanian Mary Donaldson, who met the man she would go on to marry at a Sydney pub the day after the Opening Ceremony. His name? Frederik, the then-Crown Prince of Denmark.

At the close of the Games, then-IOC President Juan Samaranch called it the best Olympics ever.

Brisbane 2032 has a lot to live up to.

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