DESCRIPTION

The medals were presented in a blue paper, decorative box which contained the medal encased in hard plastic and separate stand.

THE GAMES

The Sydney 2000 Games were the largest yet, with 10,651 athletes competing in 300 events. Despite their size, they were well organized, renewing faith in the Olympic Movement. Birgit Fischer earned two gold medals in canoeing to become the first woman in any sport to win medals 20 years apart. Judoka Ryoko Tamura lost in the final in both Barcelona and Atlanta, but came back to win the gold medal in Sydney. Steve Redgrave became the first rower to win gold medals in five consecutive Olympics. The US softball team won in stirring fashion, losing three games in a row and then coming back to defeat each of the teams they had lost to. The US men's baseball team also took the gold by upsetting the heavily favored Cuban team. Local favorite, Ian Thorpe (17 years old) won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle by breaking his own world record. He then swam the anchor leg in the 4 x 100m freestyle and won again. He finally gained another gold medal in the 200m freestyle and a silver medal with the 4 x 200m freestyle Australian relay team.

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