Games of the XXVII Olympiad

▪ 2001

by Melinda C. Shepherd

      From Sept. 15 to Oct. 1, 2000, Sydney, Australia, played host to the world as the site of the Games of the XXVII Olympiad. Despite initial concerns about protests by native Aboriginal Australians—and amid the financial scandals that plagued the International Olympic Committee and several other host cities—Sydney's festivities were pronounced “the best Olympic Games ever” by IOC Pres. Juan António Samaranch. Nearly 11,000 accredited athletes, representing 199 IOC member-states, participated; in addition, three athletes from the UN dependency of East Timor competed as individuals. At the spectacular opening ceremony, during which Aboriginal Australian runner Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic flame, North and South Koreans marched together under one flag for the first time (they later competed for their separate countries).

      A record 928 Olympic medals were awarded in 300 events (168 for men, 120 for women, and 12 mixed), with 80 countries gaining at least one medal. U.S. athletes won the most medals, 97, followed by competitors from Russia (88), China (59), Australia (58), and Germany (57). A total of 48 world records were broken or equaled, 15 of them in swimming and 27 in weight lifting. Several events were contested at the Olympics for the first time in 2000, including men's and women's taekwondo, trampoline, triathlon, and synchronized diving. Other new women's events included weight lifting, modern pentathlon, and pole vaulting. (See Table (Olympic Champions, 2000 Summer Games, Sydney ).)

      As in past Olympics, drugs cast a shadow over Sydney. At least 40 members of China's national team withdrew or were dropped before the Games. An athlete and an Olympic official were denied entry to the Games when they were caught with banned substances in their possession. In two of the biggest drug-related stories, freestyle wrestler Alexander Leipold of Germany tested positive for steroids and was stripped of his gold medal, and Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan lost her all-around gold after it was discovered that she had taken a nonprescription cold medicine that contained a banned ingredient.

      Despite falling short of her declared aim to win five gold medals, American sprinter Marion Jones (see Biographies (Jones, Marion )) captured three gold and two bronze. In the pool American Jenny Thompson won 4 medals to bring her career total to 10 (8 gold), a record for any woman swimmer and for an American woman in any Olympic sport, while Australian favourite Ian Thorpe gained 3 gold and 2 silver medals. Two Dutch swimmers unexpectedly triumphed—Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn. (See Biographies (De Bruijn, Inge ).) Other prominent athletes included diminutive Turkish weight lifter Halil Mutlu (see Biographies (Mutlu, Halil )); British rower Steven Redgrave, who won his fifth consecutive gold; and Cuban heavyweight boxer Felix Savon (see Biographies (Savon, Felix )), who captured his third straight. In perhaps the biggest upset of the Games, American Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner defeated Aleksandr Karelin; the almost legendary Russian had not lost a bout since 1987.

Melinda C. Shepherd is associate editor of Encyclopædia Britannica Yearbooks.

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