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Sydney 2000 was a special time, when an open-hearted nation was ascendant Advertisement

We’ve been bathed in Sydney Olympics nostalgia this week. A quarter of a century – roughly a third of most people’s natural lifespan. And yet the memories, like embers, glow brightly.

The TV montages, the commemorative interviews and reruns of those glorious finals have stirred something deeper than just sporting pride. It’s a wistful longing for what’s left us. A realisation that the world, as we knew it, has gone.

Sydney’s time of innocence and optimism: Nikki Webster flies high in the opening ceremony for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Credit: Amy Sancetta/AP

Sydney felt enchanted during that fortnight in 2000, as I routinely tell people who weren’t even born then.

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