The stars of Sydney - in pictures

Three out of five ain't bad: Marion Jones did the sprint double and added another gold to the tally in the 4x400m relay.

National hero: Great Britain's Steve Redgrave collected his fifth gold medal in as many Olympics.

Double Dutch: Pieter van den Hoogenband stopped the Thorpedo in his tracks, taking the 100m and 200m freestyle golds.

Win for the Williams': Success for Venus in the singles and with sister Serena they dominated the women's doubles.

Eric the Eel: Eric Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea created Olympic history by swimming the slowest 100m freestyle ever .

Denise did it: Denise Lewis turned World Championship silver into Olympic gold with a brave battle in the heptathlon.

Eyes wide open: Australian darling, Cathy Freeman brought home the 400m gold to the rapture of Stadium Australia.

Thorpedo: The 17-year-old caused a huge splash in the pool.