As the world waved goodbye to 1999 and ushered in the new millennium, it welcomed a period of unprecedented change.
It was officially the year 2000, the perfect opportunity for a cultural reset.
Coldplay released their debut album; Big Brother graced our screens for the first time, and the Millennium Dome opened its doors.
And while the world enjoyed the new year, there was also something new brewing in the British sporting landscape: the birth of Team GB.
When the British Olympic Association walked out at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, it marked their first time competing under the name 'Team GB', a reset after Great Britain and Northern Ireland won only one gold medal at Atlanta 1996.
And when Sir Steve Redgrave soared to a historic fifth Olympic gold, Dame Denise Lewis clinched heptathlon glory and Sir Ben Ainslie finally grabbed gold on the Oceanic waters, a new era of British Olympic success was ushered in.
A quarter of a century on from that moment, we are remembering an Olympic Games that set the precedent for so many to come.
Sydney 2000
The XXVII Olympiad ran from 15 September to 1 October 2000 and was only the second time that the Olympics had been held in Australia, and in the Southern Hemisphere, with the first dating back to Melbourne 1956.
It was the first Games to have 300 events in its official 28 sport programme, making it the biggest in history and it received praise unlike any other, heralded a major feat of success.
The United States of America topped the medal table, with Team GB coming tenth with 11 golds - an impressive leap from the four years prior.
It marked Britain's best performance at an Olympics since 1920, thanks to it being the first Summer Games in which British athletes benefited from National Lottery funding, introduced in 1997.
Medal moments
Sydney 2000 provided some of Team GB's most iconic sporting moments in history.
When Sir Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Tim Foster crossed the line for gold in the men's coxless four it was a moment for the record books.
The victory was Redgrave's fifth consecutive Olympic gold, making him the most successful male rower in Olympic history, and still the only man to have won gold medals at five Olympic Games in an endurance sport.
Retiring from sport following the Games, it cemented Redgrave as one of Britain's most loved sporting heroes.
Four years before Sydney 2000, Sir Ben Ainslie had made his Olympic debut on the Atlanta waters and was pipped to victory by Brazil's Robert Scheidt in the laser.
In Sydney, the British sailor soared to victory in his boat, the first of what would eventually be four consecutive Olympic gold medals to crown him the most successful sailor in Olympic history.
Away from the water and on the athletics track, Sydney 2000 provided the spotlight for Dame Denise Lewis to finally claim Olympic gold.
After winning heptathlon bronze at Atlanta, and two world silvers coming into the event, Lewis finally made the step up to the top of the podium with a glorious victory.
Gold was won despite Lewis running the 800m with the lower part of her left leg bandaged due to a calf and Achilles injury, while world-record triple jump holder Jonathan Edwards won his first gold medal in his fourth Olympics.
Audley Harrison became the first British boxer to win Olympic gold in the super heavyweight division, defeating Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov of Kazakhstan on points.
Sydney 2000 also marked the first Olympic medals of Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Bradley Wiggins's careers, with the former winning men's team sprint silver and the latter team pursuit bronze. Success in the velodrome also came through Jason Queally, who won track time trial gold and men's team sprint silver to make him the only multiple medallist for Team GB.
Kate Howey silver in the women's -70kg saw her become the only British woman to win two Olympic judo medals, after bronze at Barcelona 1992.
New sports
Triathlon and taekwondo both made their Olympic debuts Down Under.
The former was held under the watchful eye of the iconic Sydney Opera House, with 100 competitors taking to the start line.
It would not be until 2012 that Team GB began to dominate the triathlon medal table, but it marked a notable start to the sport's Olympic story.
Team GB saw two athletes take to the mat in taekwondo, with Sarah Stevenson reaching the bronze medal match in the women's 67kg but sadly just missing out on the podium.
History makers
Away from British success, Syndey 2000 provided multiple global sporting memories.
Home hero Cathy's Freeman's win in the women's 400m, just days after lighting the Olympic flame at the Opening Ceremony, will forever one of those iconic moments not only notable for Olympics fans but beyond sport.
Freeman celebrated her victory by carrying both the Australian and the Aboriginal flag, picking them up simultaneously before tying their ends together. Team GB's Katharine Merry had the best seat in the house, as she came home third in the race to take bronze.
With three gold medals, three world records and two silver medals, a 17-year-old Ian Thorpe was the most successful athlete at the Games, which were held in his hometown.
Just two years younger, Michael Phelps would also dive into the pool for his Olympic debut at Sydney 2000, finishing fifth in the 200m butterfly, as Equatorial Guinea’s Eric Moussambani - Eric the Eel - captivated the Sydney Aquatic Centre as he swam alone in the first heat of the 100m freestyle.
Elsewhere on the athletics track, sprinter Marion Jones became the first women to win five athletics medals at a single Games.
Sportsbeat 2025