The Yanks had promised to “smash them like guitars”- instead they had to endure the Aussies air riffing the national anthem as an entire nation celebrated one the most iconic moments in our sporting history.
The USA had never been beaten in the 4x10m freestyle relay in the history of the Olympics. So confident were they the streak would continue at the Sydney 2000 games, brash American Gary Hall JR delivered the now infamous prediction that his team would smash the Australians like guitars.
When the Aussies triumphed, it was only fitting they celebrated by playing air guitars for a packed-out Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.
This week, interested athletes from the Bond swim squad got a first hand account of the race from alumni Chris Fydler, who along with Michael Klim, Ian Thorpe and Ashley Callus defied history to break Team USA’s seven consecutive gold medal streak that night.
Fydler who began his Bachelor of Laws and Commerce at Bond in 1992, was among the first student athletes to claim the prestigious inaugural Bond University Blues Awards following his 1992 Olympic campaign.
“I have a great connection with Bond,” he said.
“It's nice to walk into reception and see my name on the Blues list.
“The university was only a couple of years old when I started. It was great, it was really the only place I could study at the time because the three-semester system allowed me to be able to travel for swimming.”
Now in a full circle moment Fydler is a proud father sitting on the pool deck watching his two daughters Adrianna and Claudia lap the Bond University pool.
“When I first came back here last year, which was one of the first times I came back to campus after graduating, it was quite amazing to see how much the facilities had evolved,” he said.
“For me it's just nice to have a connection back with Bond, it’s a pretty special place.”
His daughters Claudia, 23 and Adriana, 21 who are originally from Sydney moved up to the Gold Coast to focus on their swimming.
“Both the girls really love the Bond squads, we’re really lucky to have such a big older age squad,” Fydler said.
“It's important to have that social connection at training, swimming is a really hard sport and without that social connection it's not particularly fun.”
Since retiring from the pool in 2001, Fydler was admitted as a solicitor and held the position of Deputy Chef de Mission for Australian Olympic Teams at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics. He has also recently been appointed Chairman of Swimming Australia.
“Back in the 90s Bond were doing university differently,” he recalled.
“There were the traditional sandstone universities who had the two-semester structure and Bond wanted to do things differently and get through the degrees faster.
“The big take away from my time at Bond which has stayed with me over the years is to not always take for granted how it's always been, but look for better ways to achieve the same goals
“Don't accept that because you have always done it this way, that it's the right way to do it.”