In the first nine World Cup events in men’s triathlon leading to Sydney 2000, Australia won 4, but the top ranked man in Sydney was Miles Stewart who finished in sixth place. Simon Whitfield took home the gold for Canada with big celebrations in the final straight.

Meanwhile, the gold for Australia came from shooter Michael Diamond who successfully defended his Olympic gold medal in the men’s trap and is to this day still the only Australian to win multiple gold medals in the sport of shooting. Australia was also represented by Annemarie Forder won bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol. At the time she was aged 22, the youngest Australian to win a shooting medal – a feat she still holds on to as of 2020

Instagram: @ingedebruijn

The Dutch started one of many successes in swimming, with Dutchwoman Inge de Bruijn winning the 100m butterfly in a world record smashing time of 56.61 seconds – more than a second ahead of silver medal winner Martina Moravcova from Slovakia. It was the first of four medals (3 golds and 1 bronze) for Inge De Bruijn at these Games.

In between the spokes, it was a bronze day at the Sydney Velodrome for Australian cycling, with Bradley McGee coming third in the men’s 4km individual pursuit and the men’s team taking third in the team sprint event. It was Bradley’s 3rd bronze after 2 in Atlanta 1996. He then claimed silver in the 4km individual pursuit and gold in the team pursuit in Athens 2004.