On September15, 2000, Freeman had to wait for several minutes as a technical hitch delayed the sparking of the flame in the highly choreographed opening ceremony.

She held her nerve then, and again later at the Games to deliver an expected triumph in the 400 meters, becoming the first Australian Aboriginal to win an individual Olympic gold medal.

In 2000, the identity of who would light the cauldron was a closely guarded secret, but not so a decade later - Freeman had had a park adjacent to the main Olympic stadium dedicated in her honour earlier.

This time, in a white top and jeans instead of the shimmering white suit she wore in 2000, Freeman and Paralympic champion Louise Sauvage jointly ignited the anniversary flame.

"I'm really deeply moved," Freeman said at the dedication ceremony.

"I am feeling the love, and it's really quite amazing.

"It has blown me away."

Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates, who headed the Sydney Organising Committee and is now a member of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) ruling Executive Board, described Freeman as a "national institution".

"She made us all so very proud," Coates said.

"Her illustrious deeds as an Olympic and double world champion tend to belie the unassuming, very modest nature of this remarkable young woman."

In other anniversary ceremonies, Sydney organisers commemorated former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Samaranch, who died in April, closed the 2000 Games by describing it as the "best Olympic Games ever".

Jacques Rogge, who succeeded Samaranch as head of the IOC in 2001 having led the Coordination Commission that monitored preparations for Sydney, said in a recorded message that "the 2000 Games went down in history as a model of organisational success."

Earlier, Sebastian Coe (pictured), the London 2012 chairman, praised the Sydney organisers, saying the 2000 Games "put the smile back on the face of the Olympic family" in the wake of the problems at Atlanta in 1996.

He said: "Never was a city so vibrant, excited and frankly embracing of an Olympics Games.

"Venues never so full.

"Sport, never so inspiring.

"This was the Olympic Movement - faster, higher, stronger - like it had never been before.

"As we drive toward London, you have given us in our Organising Committee a template.

"You delivered a staggering Games."


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