“Faster, stronger and higher is a reality for all of you,” were the words of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore to more than 100 Australian athletes who attended the Olympic homecoming parade in Sydney.

The green and gold clad athletes marched through a sea of tickertape swirling through the air and the cheers of the thousands of Australians who crowded George Street and Town Hall. Parading 14 gold, 15 silver, 17 bronze medals and a profusion of sporting greatness the athletes let Australia know how much they appreciate their support.

Anna Meares captured the hearts of Australia as she won silver in the women’s sprint after almost giving up the sport earlier this year. In January Meares crashed heavily in a World Cup event. She came within millimeters of becoming a quadriplegic and even closer to never cycling again. Suffering fractured vertebrae near the base of her skull the Athens gold medalist found motivation to struggle through the injury in the hope of competing in Beijing.

Meares celebrated prematurely after her semi final before her Chinese opponent was disqualified for a push on the final lap. Realising she was assured a medal Meares burst into tears in one of the great moments of the games.

“There are no words,” Meares said.

“I was more excited to get into the final then when I realised I got the silver medal. It was just seven months of hard work paid off.”

Meares was clearly excited moments before the parade began as she waited behind a cluster of glittering Emus.

“The feeling today is unbelievable,” she said. “I came to the one after Athens and it was great. It’s exciting to see everyone who comes out to cheer and all the fancy costumes.”

Metres away from Meares was Melissa Wu, who took the diving world by storm three years ago at the tender age of 13. Wu won silver in the women’s 10m synchronised diving with fellow rookie Briony Cole after fighting off close competition from Germany, Mexico and the USA.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Wu said. “It was very, very exciting and just like a dream come true.”

The tiny diver was overwhelmed by the size of the parade and planned to attend all the events across the country.

“It’s much bigger than I expected it to be,” she said.

“First Olympics and first homecoming parade…it’s so good to see we’ve got so much support from the Australian public.”

Steve Hooker took gold in the men’s Pole Vault in dramatic style, clearing the bar on his 3^rd attempts throughout the final before vaulting 5.9 metres for a new Olympic record. Jumping down the parade route with the giant bouncing kangaroos Hooker was enjoying the day.

“It’s good to be a part of,” Hooker said.

While celebrating his gold medal Hooker assured fans he is on track to do the same in London. “

“With new enthusiasm," he said.

This is only the beginning.”

Sally McClellan raced into the spotlight after a famous silver medal win in the women’s 100m hurdles that even she couldn’t believe. A far more subdued McClellan was a little overwhelmed from the support the athletes were receiving at the parade.

“It just makes everything worthwhile,” she said.

“Just to get recognised from all of Sydney it looks like.”

After silver medals in Sydney and Athens, Beijing was being built as the moment Australia would beat the USA for gold in the women’s basketball. But the Opals saved their worst game of the tournament for the final and the USA easily accounted for them 92-65.

Kristi Harrower has been in all three silver medal teams.

“Somebody actually said to me ‘you’d be sick of silver by now wouldn’t you’,” she said.

“We weren’t good enough on the day and it’s not so much that we didn’t win the gold its more about the way we finished, we actually played terrible. We didn’t play the Opals way.”

The point guard has been an integral part of the Opals since Sydney 2000 and despite a disappointing end to her teams Beijing campaign China’s games may have given her a new drive to get to London.

“The Olympics in Beijing was just unbelievable,” she said.

“The way they put it on, how they did everything with the stadiums, they were just amazing. Every Olympics just gets better.

“I’m 33 now and for me it’s year by year. I’ll just wait and see how my body is and my mind... I’ll see where my life is in three years.”

Team mate Jenni Screen got her first taste of Olympic competition in Beijing and is ready for more.

“It was sensational,” she said. “It was everything and more that I expected it to be,” Screen said,

“It [gold medal match] was very disappointing and to this day I still think about it.

"But then you come home and get to be part of things like this and people get so excited and quite emotional when they see the medal and you realise you’re actually pretty lucky to have this around your neck.”

In the second half of the parade was a group of girls with a clear message. “Back softball 2016”. Softball has been taken off the Olympic program for London and its future remains uncertain. The Australian women’s softball team won Bronze after losing to Japan in the 12^th innings of overtime. The match is being labeled as the best game in Olympic history and could be the sports saving grace back into the Olympics.

Jodie Bowering and the rest of the bronze medal team made their message clear for all to see but along the parade route they were there to say thank you to the fans.

“It’s amazing,” Bowering said.

“It’s so good to be out hear with the Australian public and let them know that we support them being here as much as they support us.”

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore closed official proceedings with some inspiring words for our Olympics heroes. “Our team shows the world that Australia stands for fair play and performance based on hard work, determination and natural ability,” she said.

“We’ve heard about struggles, about injury, illness, exhaustion and some surviving terrible events and we appreciate the strength it takes to overcome all obstacles and achieve at the highest level.”

As the athletes prepared for a week of celebrations throughout the country Moore reminded them that “faster, stronger and higher is a reality for all of you.”

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Photo courtesy of: md111