With the benefit of hindsight, it was always going to be fiendishly difficult to deny low-profile Australian sailors Tom King and Mark Turnbull the gold in the men's 470 class at the Sydney Olympics.
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And so it proved.
The more-experienced King had made his Olympic debut four years earlier in Atlanta with Owen McMahon, finishing in the middle of the 470s fleet.
He returned home determined to leave no stone unturned in the quest for Sydney glory.
A new partnership with Turnbull - who had enjoyed an exceptional career as a junior sailor in other classes - returned near-immediate dividends, with the pair claiming the world title in their last major hitout before the Games.
Also in their corner was master-coach Victor Kovalenko, aka the Medal Maker.
Kovalenko had been lured to Australia from his native Ukraine in the lead-up to Sydney 2000 and made an immediate impression.
The Australians dominated the 470 regatta and only needed to finish within five spots of their rivals from the United States in the final race on Sydney Harbour on September 28 to be assured of the gold medal, a target they accomplished with ease.
"We were extraordinarily lucky to have a home Games that coincided with the peaks of our careers," said King.
"And we were extraordinarily lucky to have the best coach in the world."
Making the triumph even more special was that their victory was watched first-hand by many thousands of cheering fans and loved ones.
That would be a boost for any sportspeople lucky enough to compete at a home Olympics.
But for sailors it was unprecedented.
"Everyone says Sydney Harbour is a very difficult place to sail and it is, but it's also just an amazing place to sail," recalled Turnbull.
"And it wasn't like any Olympics before or since.
"Usually all of our sailing tended to be out over the horizon and our friends and family didn't get to see what we did.
"But at the Olympics in Sydney we were front and centre, effectively in a stadium.
"For the final race there were thousands of spectators out there on boats and on the headlands.
"You could hear the cheers ringing from one side of the harbour to the other."
King believes the pair also benefited from a deliberately low-key campaign.
After marching in the opening ceremony they put up the shutters, refusing all media requests until the gold medal was assured.
"That pissed a lot of people off and it ultimately resulted in us not having any real profile through the Games," said King.
"But I don't think we would have won if we hadn't done that."
As it turned out, neither man would attend another Olympics as an athlete, although King went to the 2006 Winter Games and the 2008 Summer Olympics as a senior administrator with the Australian team.
But they will always have Sydney.
And the roar of the crowd.
Australian Associated Press
