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Posted: 2017-11-23 04:40:58

Updated November 23, 2017 15:54:09

The Olympic Stadium at Homebush has been home to some of our nation's greatest sporting moments.

Australia's home ground is set to be demolished at the end of 2019, and rebuilt.

Here are a selection of the unforgettable triumphs, and tribulations, from its hallowed turf.

1. Glitch that stopped a nation

It was one of the most spectacular lightings of an Olympic cauldron, but for about 4 minutes organisers were wondering if Australia would become the laughing stock.

The world was watching when Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic cauldron during opening ceremony for the 2000 Games.

As the huge flaming disc began to rise from a pool of water, it became stuck, and technicians worked furiously in the dark underneath it to get it moving again.

Eventually, the crisis was averted.

2. Aloisi sends Socceroos to World Cup

It was the greatest night in Australian football history. In front of 82,000 fans, John Aloisi stepped up to the penalty spot and sent the ball past Uruguayan keeper Fabian Carini, booking the Socceroos a place at the 2006 World Cup.

After losing the first leg of their intercontinental playoff 1-0 in Montevideo, Australia needed to win by two goals in the return leg in Sydney, but only managed one goal after extra-time.

Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer pulled off two saves during the ensuing penalty shoot-out, leaving Aloisi to deliver the final blow and send the Socceroos to a World Cup for the first time since 1974.

3. Wilkinson breaks Aussie hearts

Fly-half Johnny Wilkinson and his England teammates arrived at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia having already bored European fans into catatonia with a tactically-astute style of kicking rugby.

Wilkinson's kicking accuracy was key to England's progress to the final, where they would play the Wallabies in front of 83,000 supporters.

Australia took the lead after 6 minutes through a try to Lote Tuqiri, but the match descended into a kicking duel between Wilkinson and Wallabies inside centre Elton Flatley.

It was Wilkinson who prevailed — scoring a drop goal in extra time, with the scores locked at 17-17 — to hand England its first World Cup win.

4. Freeman's 400m gold

It was the moment Australia held its breath for 49.11 seconds — Cathy Freeman's, gold medal win in the 400 metres final at the 2000 Olympics.

Freeman was the home crowd favourite and, despite the immense pressure on her, she had a strong victory in front of more than 112,000 spectators, Millions more Australians were glued to their radio and TVs.

Her victory was Australia's 100th gold medal and the second for an Indigenous athlete.

5. Saville's walk devastation

Just outside the stadium where 80,000 people were ready to cheer her victory in the final stretch of the 2000 Olympics' 20 kilometre walk, Jane Saville was disqualified for an illegal gait.

The heartbroken Saville described the moment as devastating, especially given the home crowd support.

Two previous lead walkers had also been disqualified with Wang Liping going on to win the gold medal for China.

Saville won bronze in the same event at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

6. Thurston seals best-ever

There are footballers who are cool in a crisis, and then there's Johnathan Thurston — the man with ice pumping through his veins.

One of the NRL's most celebrated, and popular champions delivered his North Queensland Cowboys their first NRL premiership when he slotted a golden-point drop goal in the 2015 decider against arch rivals Brisbane.

With scores locked at 16-all after 80 minutes, Thurston — who had missed a conversion that would have won the game for his side moments earlier — made no mistake with his second chance.

7. Rabbitohs first GF in 40 years

As far as sporting fairy tales go, the story of South Sydney is up there. After being booted out of the NRL at the end of the 1999 season, they fought their way back in 2002 and 12 years later, were on top of the competition.

Having not appeared in a grand final since 1971, the Rabbitohs were sentimental favourites when they took on the Bulldogs in 2014.

Despite the scores being close at half-time, the Bunnies went on to claim a memorable 30-6 triumph.

8. Barry Hall shocker

It was a textbook left hook — the only problem was, Barry Hall was not in the boxing ring.

The Sydney Swans enforcer's 2008 hit on West Coast Eagle Brent Staker will go down in history as one of the dirtiest acts on the AFL field.

Hall was suspended for seven weeks, and earlier this year admitted his punch could have killed Staker.

Topics: government-and-politics, parliament, state-parliament, sport, rugby-league, olympics-summer, homebush-2140

First posted November 23, 2017 15:40:58

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