News
September 16, 2025
Accor stadium’s designers celebrate 25 years of Olympic legacy creation
The Populous architects who led the design of the centrepiece of what is widely regarded as the most successful Olympics ever, Sydney 2000, have celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Opening Ceremony.
During a special event on 15 September 20205, held inside what was Stadium Australia, now Accor Stadium, the Populous team of Paul Henry, Richard Breslin, Shaun Gallagher, George Farrington, Belinda Goh and Paul Foskett, who were architects on the iconic project, attended the unveiling of the venue’s first Hall of Fame members.
The stadium is a model of green, functional, cost-effective legacy design and is regarded as one of the most sustainable stadiums in the world to this day.
Project Director for the stadium’s architecture and Populous Senior Principal, Global Director & Co-Founder, Paul Henry, said the design had to live up to the Opening Ceremony while supporting the existing infrastructure of the city and the sustainable environmental goals.
“It was a huge honour to be part of the celebration last night and to share that with many of the original team still hard at work at Populous,” Mr Henry said.
"The Olympic design learnings from Sydney continue to have DNA in many of Populous' current global and Australian stadium designs. It's a great example of designing for legacy and ensuring an enduring and successful life of the venue."
Olympic Park, where Accor Stadium is located, has provided a lasting legacy for Sydney and helped to regenerate an industrial area of the city, becoming an international centrepiece of a new community.
Everything was future-proofed with the necessary infrastructure, even down to the cabling so that it could respond to ongoing advances in technology without requiring major structural renovation.
Most significantly, the venue has become a platform for generating great emotion. During the past 25 years, more than 30 million people have watched their heroes perform in Accor Stadium, and legacy design has been central to the enjoyment of those fans.
Last night’s Hall of Fame event commemorated the start of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games and featured musical performances by artists who starred in the Oening Ceremony 25 years ago.
Four Olympic and Paralympic legends Cathy Freeman, Louise Sauvage, Tim Sullivan and Ian Thorpe were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Six living legends from the sporting codes that call Accor Stadium home – rugby league, rugby union and football – joined the 2000 Games stars as inaugural inductees, Socceroos heroes John Aloisi and Mark Schwarzer, rugby league stars Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns, Wallabies captain John Eales and England’s 2003 World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson.
Olympic legend Cathy Freeman said it was an honour to be inducted alongside so many great Olympians, Paralympians and athletes.
“Every time I step back into this stadium, I’m reminded of that unforgettable night on September 25, 2000, when a sold-out crowd lifted me through the 400-metre final,” Freeman said.
"To think that 25 years have passed since the Sydney Games feels surreal, yet the memories remain as vivid as ever. Having my family’s name permanently on a grandstand here is deeply personal and humbling – it connects my story to this place in a way that goes beyond sport, and it’s something I will treasure always."
Accor Stadium was a global pioneer in sport design. Since Sydney 2000, Populous has worked on every Summer and Winter Olympic Games, allowing our designers to continue to innovate and truly understand the requirements of an Olympic stadium as well as what it can leave for communities once the event has finished.
The venue’s legacy continues in the weeks ahead as Accor Stadium hosts the National Rugby League (NRL) and NRLW Grand Finals, followed by a huge summer concert series featuring Oasis, Metallica, Lady Gaga, ACDC and Ed Sheeran – and then the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, and 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup.
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