The entire nation was glued to television screens to watch our golden girl Cathy Freeman run in the 400m final of the Sydney Olympics.

In the stadium, as Cathy took her blocks, an entire crowd of 112,000 was silent in anticipation.

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What happened next is a part of Australian sporting history.

After Cathy crossed the finish line that night she sat on the track and removed her shoes.

An act of relief.

As she got up and started to do a lap of the stadium, she looked to the heavens.

That was the moment Illawarra Mercury photographer Andy Zakeli, one of two perched on the stadium roof, knew he had captured an iconic image. A moment of history.

That image adorns the front page of the September 25, 2020, edition of the Illawarra Mercury.

On the 20^th anniversary of Cathy's run we have looked back at Sydney 2000 through the eyes of some of the Ilawarra Mercury crew who were there covering the Olympic Games.

For Zakeli, the strong memory was the noise inside the stadium that night.

"There has been no noise to match the crowd that night, and I've covered Maradona, I've covered the EPL in England and I've covered State of Origin games," he said.

"The crowd that night with Cathy, nothing comes close, nothing comes close to the noise they made that night in that stadium."

Those that were there would know exactly what he means. The wall of sound as Cathy rounded the final bend was like a physical beast. If you were in the stands it hit you in the chest like a sonic boom.

To Cathy it must have felt like a tailwind, pushing her to the finish line.

Then, as Cathy carried the country across the finish line, came the relief and the release of pressure.

Cathy looked to the sky and Zakeli seized his moment. A moment of history which will live forever.