The 2000 Sydney Games: Week One

Articles in this Topic Discussions in this Topic

Sep 25, 2000

Jubilation. Heartbreak. Upsets. Record-breakers. These words can only describe one thing: the 2000 Sydney Olympics. While the first week of the Games has seen its share of drama, the women's side of the events so far has seen the most.

The Sydney Aquatic Center has seen a culmination of all four of these extremes. Twelve records were broken whether they were Olympic or World Records. The US women were responsible for five of these in seven of the events in which they earned gold medals. Jenny Thompson will return to the states with an unbelievable eight gold medals, all earned in relay events. She became the most decorated female athlete in American history. However, she did not earn that elusive individual gold medal which would have been the perfect ending to a storied career. Thompson anchored the gold medal-winning and world record setting 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay team which included Amy van Dyken, Courtney Sheahy and Dara Torres. The other gold medal and Olympic record setting team was the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay with Lindsey Benko helping to close a gap with Australia to win it. The US Women ended its relay competitions with the 4 x 100 meter medley relay. This was a great way to a dominating performance in the pool by the American women. BJ Bedford, Megan Quann, Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson shattered the world record by almost four seconds to earn another gold medal. Quann swam the fastest split in Olympic history with her breaststroke. Individually, the American women faired well also. Brooke Bennett defended her gold medal in the 800 meter freestyle and set a new Olympic record. Bennett also earned gold in the 400 meter freestyle. Sixteen year old Megan Quann surprised thousands of swimming fans and even herself when she won gold in the 100 meter breaststroke. Although it's only week one of the Games, one of the biggest upsets occurred in the pool and was handed out by a female American swimmer. Misty Hyman defeated Susie O'Neill, the sweetheart of the Australian swimming world, in the 100 meter butterfly to win gold. O'Neill was heavily favored in the event and the butterfly stroke is known as the "Susie" stroke in Australia. Along with the men, the American's earned 33 medals in the pool.

The American women saw a lot of success in the pool with only a little heartbreak. However, this was not the case for the American gymnasts. Before the competition began, the Americans lost a gymnast to injury and needed a replacement, quickly. Enter 15 year old Tasha Schwikert. She was a new name to gymnastics fans and no one knew what to expect. On a team with two gold medal-winning veterans in Amy Chow and Dominique Dawes and a national champion in Elise Ray, Schwikert was the only consistent performer for the US in the team competition. Another blow to the Americans came in the preliminary competition when Jamie Dantzscher hurt her ankle. Later in the competition, Ray heard her shoulder pop during her floor routine. The little mistakes like balance checks and even falls plagued the Americans in the qualifying team competition. With a disappointing performance, the Americans did not advance to the finals. Romania held off the Russians for the gold medal, and an elated Chinese team earned the bronze. The individual all-around competition saw even more drama for the Americans. First place was up for grabs all evening. Ray, Chow and Kristin Maloney represented the US. On her first event, the vault, Ray took a scary fall on her warm-up. This certainly affected her mentally and hurt her two vaults which were scored. She fell on both. Later, after a solid uneven bars routine, a difficult beam performance and a mediocre floor routine, Ray was told the vault was 5 cm lower than regulation. This was huge for Ray. After her initial vault, Ray was in 36th place out of 36 athletes and by the end of the competition, she was in 35th place. Ray was given the option to redo her vaults. After completing two new vaults, Ray moved up to 14th place. The mental trauma of a fall like Ray suffered at the beginning of her competition certainly affected her overall performance. The question is: did the mismeasurement of the vault possibly cost US national champion Elise Ray a medal? We'll never know. The Romanians swept the individual all-around to add to their team gold medal.

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4

The copyright of the article The 2000 Sydney Games: Week One in Women's Professional Sport is owned by . Permission to republish The 2000 Sydney Games: Week One in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.