Sydney 2000 marked a century of womens participation in the Olympics. To recognise this, some of Australias 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. (Cuthberts 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 medallist, then passed the torch to Cathy Freeman. Freeman, who had been a secret selection to light the Olympic flame, then ran up four flights of stairs, crossed a shallow pond and lit a ring of fire around her. After a nervous delay, the cauldron then rose above her head and made the slow journey up a waterfall to the top of the Olympic Stadium. Ten days later in the same stadium Freeman withstood immense public pressure to win the 400m final in the most anticipated race of the Games. It remains for many one of the greatest sporting highlights in our nations history. Fittingly, it was also Australias 100th Olympic gold medal since the first modern Games in 1896.