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| INTRO | REVIEW BY SPORT | GALLERY | VOTE | LEGENDS REMEMBERED | 2001 CALENDAR | |
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 By BBC Sport Online's Tom Fordyce As with any Olympic year, the deeds of the rest of the season paled in comparison with what went on during the main attraction. Sydney hosted the best Games in living memory - from both an organisational and purely sporting perspective. It was fitting that the most memorable performance came from an Australian, Cathy Freeman. At the start of the year, she had fled her home country under the sheer weight of expectation and come to train in England. On the night of the 400m final, dressed in a space-age Nike Swift Suit, roared on by 110,000 screaming fans in the stadium and millions across the country, she came from second on the top bend to take gold - the first Aboriginal to win such an Olympic honour. Even her beaten rivals seemed somehow pleased. In a way, it seems viciously unfair that Marion Jones could win three Olympic golds and still come away feeling like a loser. But despite taking both 100m and 200m by quite staggering distances, her failure - if a bronze medal can be termed as such - to win the long-jump and 4x100m relay left her short of the record five golds she wanted. The suspension of her husband, American shot-putter CJ Hunter, for the use of banned steroid nandrolone, cast a darker shadow across her Games. Jones was beaten in the long-jump by an athlete most fans thought had retired years ago. Germany's Heike Dreschler came to prominence at the inaugural World Championships in 1983, and had won Olympic gold in Barcelona in 1992. No-one, except maybe Dreschler herself, believed she had another golden performance in her at the age of 35. Another old-timer, the Czech Republic's Jan Zelezny, dug an incredible effort from his creaking old frame to win an unprecedented third javelin gold in a row. Britain's Steve Backley thought he had finally beaten his great friend and rival when he hit 89.85m with his second throw, only to watch Zelezny nail 90.17m with his next effort. Two other great rivals dominated the men's track. Maurice Greene and Michael Johnson finally went head to head in the 200m at the US Trials, only for both to pull up injured. Greene recovered in time to dominate the 100m in Sydney with a scintillating 9.87secs win over Ato Bolden and take a second gold in the sprint relay, while Johnson - an athlete who redefined the parameters of his discipline - retired from major international competitions after strolling to 400m gold.
Jonathan Edwards may have won gold, Darren Campbell delighted us all with a silver in the 200m and Kelly Holmes taken a storming bronze in the 800m, but Lewis' sheer guts in the final event, the 1500m, won her new legions of admirers.
Perhaps the saddest story of the year was that of Mark Richardson. Almost no-one in British athletics believes he took nandrolone deliberately - particularly Professor Ron Maughan and his team at Aberdeen University, who have provided some proof that certain dietary supplements, when combined with intensive exercise, may produce small amounts of the steroid in the body. But, by strict application of IAAF rules, Richardson was guilty. And that meant missing out on an Olympic final where, on form at least, he may have won a silver medal.back to top |
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