Countdown to The Gong's Olympic moment

"I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic Games ever," Mr Samaranch said.

Such bold statements are often quickly challenged but few could disagree.

It remains one of the best Olympic Games ever.

More than 10,000 athletes from over 200 countries descended on Sydney at that time for what has become a benchmark for the modern Olympics.

There were a lot of factors in making the Sydney Olympics the success it was, but a major one was the attitude of the city.

Sceptical throughout the lead-in, and not overly renowned for its welcoming nature, when the moment came Sydney, its people, and the army of volunteers who arrived from every corner of the country to help run the event turned on the charm in spades.

Ultimately, Sydney wooed the world.

That's our opportunity come September.

In 85 days' time Wollongong will host its own Olympic moment when more than a thousand of the world's best cyclists - the biggest names from the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia - roll into Wollongong for the 2022 UCI Road World Championships.

Along with these international superstars, it is the 300,000 spectators, media and support staff who will converge on the Illawarra who are our primary consideration and opportunity.

But it will not only be this unprecedented volume of visitors who will experience all the spectacular beauty of Wollongong.

When the elite men's road race gets underway on the morning of Sunday, September 25, the eyes of over 300 million people will be intently focused on those cyclists as they tear down Bald Hill, onto Sea Cliff Bridge and rip into 266 kilometres of racing around some of our most spectacular countryside.

That is an Olympic-sized moment by anyone's definition, international exposure we have never seen before.

Whether you are a business or a household, whether you want to cash in on the largest number of people ever to gather in our city, or just experience Wollongong's biggest party, now is the perfect time to start planning how you can make the most out of this once-in-a lifetime opportunity.

As a city, we need to consider how our businesses can capitalise on the opportunity, while supporting an event that will put Wollongong on the world map. There will be a high volume of European visitors expecting they can get a coffee after 2pm and dinner at 10pm, a genuine European expectation, every day of the week.

The more businesses can personalise that offering to the event the better.

It might be a restaurant changing the name of its meals to have a cycling flavour for the event as an example.

Or creating a cycling-flavoured cocktail!

Whatever you do, that planning needs to start now.

The more you plan, the greater the benefits will be for your business, and the more enjoyable the experience.

Local families should also start to think about how they plan to experience Wollongong's biggest ever event.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience our children will remember forever and won't see again.

What will they want to see or do?

If you are on the route, why not host a neighbourhood barbecue on the front lawn to enjoy it with your neighbours and friends?

We have 72 nationalities competing at Wollongong 2022, and we know 57 of those have local cultural community groups.

Wouldn't it be fantastic to see houses of different nationalities along the route decorated with the colours and flags of their native country?

Wollongong was built on and celebrates its multicultural diversity. What a great thing to share with the rest of the world.

The UCI Road World Championships are the largest annual road cycling Championships conducted by the UCI and will include road races, time trials, team time trials, cultural events and other community activities.