Thirteen-year-old Nikki Webster had kept her starring role in the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony a secret from her parents. Then they sat down to watch.

By Sarah Keoghan

Her name is now synonymous with the Sydney Olympics but a few hours before the opening ceremony of the 2000 Games, few had heard of Nikki Webster.

A few hours after it, the 13-year-old was everywhere. Wearing a pink dress with white flowers, such was Webster’s starring role as the Hero Girl of the Sydney opening ceremony, her fame exploded overnight.

It caught Webster by surprise, but for her parents Tina and Mark it was a shock.

Though aware their young dancer, through a long audition process and months of rehearsals, would have a role in the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony, they had been deliberately kept in the dark on the fact Nikki was playing a pivotal role.

Tina and Mark watched on in disbelief as Nikki, bathed in spotlight, skipped across the giant stage and soared through the air, but it was only on their very non-VIP trip home from ANZ Stadium – on the train – that it all hit home.

“On the way home, people were handing out free papers. Mum and Dad opened the paper and it was full of me,” she said.

Twenty years on, Webster can hardly believe the level of fame that settled on her so quickly.

But to land the part, she had to go up against thousands of hopefuls during an exhaustive audition process.

“I reckon if there was a reality show back then – it should have been about the Hero Girl auditions,” she said. “Every young girl that you could imagine was there, every girl you had auditioned against for musicals, for TV commercials, it was a massive casting call.”

The young Webster had worked in commercials and musicals, but ultimately, she said it was her confidence with heights that impressed artistic director David Atkins enough to give her an edge.

“The elimination process also meant going to the stadium [to see] if you were scared of heights,” she said. “I told David [Atkins] you can take me higher and I’m pretty sure that was the moment he went this is the girl I want.”

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