Sydneysiders are being treated to a surprise celebration of Cathy Freeman's groundbreaking gold medal triumph at the 2000 Olympics.
Vision of the Aussie's 400-metre gold medal run was on Friday projected onto the Sydney Opera House sails.
The display coincides with the 20th anniversary of the race, which Freeman ran in 49.11 seconds to become the first Indigenous Australian to win gold in an individual event at the Olympic Games.
A two-minute film clip encapsulating her race and celebration will run on a loop from 6.45pm until 9pm.
The display is part of the announcement of a world-first pioneering development, called Synthetic DNA, for the storage of audio-visual content by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia and Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage.
"The world's ability to store digital data is not keeping pace with its exponential growth, and synthetic DNA is one of the new solutions currently being developed," archive Chief Executive Officer Jan Muller said.
Digital information is stored using a series of zeros and ones, while DNA information offers greater storage density.
"Cathy Freeman's triumph at Sydney 2000 was a key moment in Australian sporting history. It brought Australians of all ages and backgrounds together in celebration, and it was viewed by billions of people around the world," Mr Muller said.
"We see this moment as part of 'Australia's DNA', ideal to be preserved in actual DNA and become Australia's first usage of this new technology."
Australian Associated Press
