By Bryn Palmer

Freeman was stunned initially Freeman's career in photos

When the moment arrived, Cathy Freeman struggled to take it all in.

For what seemed an age, she just sat there, hunched on the track, not sure what to do.

From my position about 30 metres away, at trackside, it was a bizarre sight.

The usual expressions of joy and relief were strangely absent, replaced by confusion and bewilderment.

A world record Olympic audience of 112,524 was delirious in its appreciation, but Freeman appeared numbed by their cheers.

The 49.11 seconds it had taken to lap Sydney's Stadium Australia had left her physically and emotionally spent.

In retrospect it was hardly surprising. After four years of crushing expectation, Freeman had invested so much of herself she had nothing left to give.

Sydney was a feeling Freeman could never hope to repeat no matter how hard she trains

The first Aboriginal to win a gold medal, it was also Australia's 100th gold in Olympic competition, and eclipsed the country's previous best medal tally of four years earlier.

You had to be a great athlete to get away with wearing an outlandish green-and-gold bodysuit, and Cathy Freeman had proved herself just that.

Slowly, she removed the headpiece, rose to her feet and walked a victory lap carrying both the Australian and Aboriginal flags.

A broad, infectious smile appeared on the face that had adorned a thousand billboards in the build-up to the Games.

What she had accomplished was later described as 'the most emotional sports moment in the lives of most Australians who saw it'.

Freeman on her lap of honour

She tried a little jig of delight, beaming with happiness, but hardly had the energy. The relief at reaching the summit though was finally showing.

Freeman's performance capped a remarkable night of athletics, possibly the greatest the sport has ever seen.

To be there on 'Magic Monday', 25 September, 2000, was a dizzying experience, a powerful mix of sporting achievement and national, political unity.

On the far side of the stadium, Jonathan Edwards had already won the triple jump for Britain.

The blond Tatiana Grigorieva set pulses racing in the pole vault and Michael Johnson followed Freeman onto the track to run 43.84secs in the men's 400m.

Privilege

The women's 5,000m saw an extraordinary battle between Gabriela Szabo and Sonia O'Sullivan, before Haile Gebrselassie pipped Paul Tergat in an epic men's 10,000m.

But none of it compared to the raw energy and emotional force of Freeman's run.

"I made a lot of people happy tonight," she said simply.

No wonder she cannot find the motivation to re-scale those peaks. They do not exist.

Sydney was a feeling Freeman could never hope to repeat no matter how hard she trains.

She did wonders for her nation, and touched people the world over with her humility and talent.