He would go on to have the honour of captaining his country four years later, but for Nathan Thomas realising his Olympic dream on home soil is something he will never forget and always treasure.
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Speaking with Tim Gilbert on the My Sydney 2000 podcast, the former Tamworth High student and Australian water polo captain reflected on what a magic time, and experience, it was.
From feeling like a rock star walking out into the stadium for the opening ceremony, to looking up into the stands and being greeted with the faces of family and friends, and water polo colleagues.
"Sydney was my first Olympics Games so there's so many things from literally just representing your country at the Olympics," Thomas said when asked about his most prominent memories.
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"And to be at home in Sydney, you're looking up into the crowd, you're seeing your high school water polo coach or your relatives and friends and people you'd played water polo with,"
"You felt like you had the whole water polo community in Australia behind you on home soil so it was pretty special."
But that also brought a lot of pressure, and he spoke about feeling "the weight if the world" at the start of the games.
"The nerves were high," he recalled.
"You do actually feel like it's a really important moment and you've got to trust yourself and get on with it."
"I was really lucky to be playing with a bunch of guys that I'd played with for a long time and we really supported each other."
Among his standout moments from the pool is drawing with the reigning Olympic champions Spain 7-all in their final pool game and making the quarter finals. the Sharks would go down to "a really strong" Yugoslavia 7-3.
"We gave it our best shot but we were unable to break through to that semi-final bracket," Thomas reflected.
"Still, even though it's a moment where we didn't achieve what we wanted to achieve, I still see that moment as one of the best experiences for me personally as a water polo player."
As for walking out with the Australian team at the opening ceremony, it was "mind-blowing".
"I think it's the first and the only time I'll ever feel like I'm a rock star," he joked.
"You literally couldn't hear yourself think; the delirious excitement that people had on their faces just because they could see the Australian team, it was incredible."
Their games being the second week they didn't have as much opportunity to see a lot of other events but were in the crowd when the women's team stunned the US to make history and win the first-ever women's gold medal. That was "pretty special", Thomas said.
