Olympic Legends are not always forged by those that gain Gold. Eric ‘The Eel’ Moussambani from Equatorial Guinea won not a single medal, but instead won the heart of the world. He didn’t smash records in the traditional sense, he in fact clocked the slowest 100m freestyle on record at the Olympic Games at 01:52.72. Pieter van den Hoogenband who did win the gold clocked 00:48.30. Eric was the embodiment of the Olympic Motto about the importance of taking part. He gave it a go, and Australian’s like that.
Day 5 was Australia’s triple gold day. Australia also went on to have triple-gold days in Athens and Beijing.
Australia won the Olympic Equestrian team event for the third time in a row, becoming the first and only country to achieve this. Trot on, planet! Andrew Hoy was a prominent member of the 3 teams and his triple take of gold medals is only matched by Dutchman Charles Pahud de Mortanges, who won 4 gold hang-coins between his Olympic run of Paris 1924 and Los Angeles 1932.
Back in the pool saw Australia win the men’s 4x200m freestyle event for the second time since Melbourne 1956 also on Australian soil. It turned out to be Ian Thorpe’s third gold medal and his final tally of five total medals was the most by any Olympian at the Sydney Games. Australia’s 4x200m freestyle win was also won in a world-record time of 07:07.05. Not a bad days work.
Justin Norris won a nice bronze for Australia in the 200m butterfly event to become the first Aussie to land a result higher than Michael Phelps in an Olympic final. On ya mate!
Madam Butterfly, Susie O’Neill won in an event not her namesake, the women’s 200m freestyle. She did so at the age of 27 years and 48 days, making her the oldest Australian woman to claim Olympic gold in swimming. Susie was only the second Australian to win gold in this event after Shane Gould in Munich 1972.
All in all it was a day for gold medals and golden hearts.
