Twenty years on from the Sydney Olympics, Australians are looking back on the moments the whole nation celebrated.

Former Olympic Minister Michael Knight reflected on the moment Sydney won its bid and Australians watched the NSW Premier, the late John Fahey, jump for joy.

“It’s a very iconic memory,” he told Jim Wilson.

“Politically, it scared the hell out of us! We were in Opposition and we thought ‘how the hell are we going to beat this bloke?’!”

As the man in charge of ensuring the Games ran smoothly, Mr Knight revealed one of his biggest struggles was public transport, and his research at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics did not put his mind at ease.

“We came back home thinking ‘gee, biggest, richest country in the world, they couldn’t run public transport efficiently for the Games, how hard’s it going to be for us?’

“It was scary, but it worked.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview