ten years from the rings

Ten years ago today, the 2000 Olympics Games began in Sydney. Nadia and I were overseas, travelling for a month through Europe. We chose to go at that time for many reasons, of which one was the logic that if everyone was heading to Australia for the Olympics, then Europe might be a little emptier of tourists. There was also the question of the relentless hype which started from the moment Sydney was awarded the games.

So we followed the progress of the Games from afar. But one moment has stayed with me, when the news from home momentarily invaded our journey through Europe. We had arrived in Prague from Vienna, having had a media blackout for about 24 hours, and I headed out the next morning early to grab a newspaper, keen on news of the Olympic opening ceremony. I found a newsstand and bought an English language newspaper. There has been much debate in the time leading up to the games about who would light the Olympic flame. I was curious about who had got the gong and how the flame had been lit. Both, a heavily guarded secret.

As I walked back to our room, I unfolded the paper. There was no mistaking the headline. On the front page was a picture of Cathy Freeman, the great Aboriginal athlete, standing amidst a circle of flame. I felt myself tearing up. I had to stop walking. The streetscape of old Prague became misty in the bright sunshine. All I can remember from that hugely coloured moment were the words I uttered at the time, 'They've got it right. They've got it right.'

Everyone knows that travelling is a broadening experience, bringing new perspectives on life and the common project that is humanity. Usually your land of birth recedes into the distance as you delve into the difference. But that day, my homeland hove into view like a harvest moon tilting above the eastern horizon. And I was proud or it. Terribly proud.