i was there

Growing up, my family had a really strong athletic background – my dad ran in two Sydney-to-Melbourne races and got me into Little Athletics. There were a set number of tickets for the 2000 Sydney Olympics allocated to people in the athletics community, so we were fortunate enough to get access to a handful of events.

I was 13 then and absolutely ecstatic at the prospect of going – I think anyone who’s into sport at any level would be excited to see sportspeople perform at their absolute peak. So, my parents, two sisters and I went up to Sydney and stayed at my aunt’s place, crammed in with all our cousins. I couldn’t wait to see all of these athletes I’d heard of run, and Cathy Freeman was definitely front of mind.

nick connellan cathg freeman's olympic win, september 25th, 2000

Going into the stadium on the night of her 400-metre race, there was a certain buzz – the kind you feel before you go to a concert and people are really hyped up to see a band or DJ. They’re expecting something from the experience. Everyone knew Cathy had made the finals and could actually win it. We weren’t expecting Australia to come in at eighth place; we all knew she was in top form, so there was a lot of anticipation and collective excitement that rubbed off on everyone in the venue. The capacity of the stadium was massive – nearly 120,000 – and it definitely felt like most people were going for Cathy. When the race started, I remember seeing a lot of light. The stadium itself was already brightly lit, but there were thousands of camera flashes that went off throughout the whole thing. It cut through the floodlights like a strobe in a nightclub. The noise during the race