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2000 Sydney Olympic Games
453px-Sydney 2000 Logo
Official logo

City

Sydney, Australia

Venue

Sydney SuperDome

Team Gold Medalist

Romania

All-Around Gold Medalist

Andreea Răducan (ROU)
Simona Amânar (ROU)
(see controversy below)

Vault Gold Medalist

Elena Zamolodchikova (RUS)

Uneven Bars Gold Medalist

Svetlana Khorkina (RUS)

Balance Beam Gold Medalist

Liu Xuan (CHN)

Floor Exercise Gold Medalist

Elena Zamolodchikova (RUS)

Preceded by

1996 Atlanta Olympic Games

Succeeded by

2004 Athens Olympic Games

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/ Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, took place between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was the second time that the Summer Olympics were held in the Southern Hemisphere, the first one being in Melbourne in 1956, and as a result of this location and the dates, took place in early spring. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Sydney SuperDome on September 16–25.

Format of Competition[]

No compulsory routines were performed in artistic gymnastics at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Instead, all participating gymnasts, including those who were not part of a team, participated in a qualification round. The results of this competition determined which teams and individuals participated in the remaining competitions, which included:

  • The team competition, in which the six highest scoring teams from qualifications competed. Each team of six gymnasts could have up to five gymnasts perform on each apparatus, and only the four highest scores counted toward the team total.
  • The all-around competition, in which the thirty-six highest scoring individuals in the all-around competed. Each country was limited to three gymnasts in the all-around final.
  • The event finals, in which the eight highest scoring individuals on each apparatus competed. Each country was limited to two gymnasts in each apparatus final.

Competition Schedule[]

September 17 Qualifications
September 19 Team Final
September 21 All-Around
September 24 Vault Event Final
Uneven Bars Event Final
September 25 Balance Beam Event Final
Floor Exercise Event Final

Results[]

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Team 600px-Flag of Romania Romania

Simona Amânar
Loredana Boboc
Andreea Isărescu
Maria Olaru
Claudia Presăcan
Andreea Răducan

800px-Flag of Russia Russia

Anna Chepeleva
Svetlana Khorkina
Anastasia Kolesnikova
Ekaterina Lobaznyuk
Elena Produnova
Elena Zamolodchikova

800px-Flag of the United States (Pantone) USA

Amy Chow
Jamie Dantzscher
Dominique Dawes
Kristen Maloney
Elise Ray
Tasha Schwikert

All-Around 600px-Flag of Romania Simona Amânar
Romania (ROU)
600px-Flag of Romania Maria Olaru
Romania (ROU)
800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China Liu Xuan
China (CHN)
Vault 800px-Flag of Russia Elena Zamolodchikova
Russia (RUS)
600px-Flag of Romania Andreea Răducan
Romania (ROU)
800px-Flag of Russia Ekaterina Lobaznyuk
Russia (RUS)
Uneven Bars 800px-Flag of Russia Svetlana Khorkina
Russia (RUS)
800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China Ling Jie
China (CHN)
800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China Yang Yun
China (CHN)
Balance Beam 800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China Liu Xuan
China (CHN)
800px-Flag of Russia Ekaterina Lobaznyuk
Russia (RUS)
800px-Flag of Russia Elena Produnova
Russia (RUS)
Floor Exercise 800px-Flag of Russia Elena Zamolodchikova
Russia (RUS)
800px-Flag of Russia Svetlana Khorkina
Russia (RUS)
600px-Flag of Romania Simona Amânar
Romania (ROU)

Notable Moments[]

  • Initially, Romania swept the team competition and the all-around podium (this changed several days after the all-around - see controversy below).
  • Russia's Svetlana Khorkina had originally qualified for the vault event final, but gave up her spot to her teammate, Elena Zamolodchikova. Zamolodchikova, who faltered in the all-around, won Russia their first gold medal of the games.
  • China's Liu Xuan became the first Chinese gymnast to win gold on balance beam.
  • The highest recorded score was 9.862, by Svetlana Khorkina during the uneven bars event final.

Controversies[]

  • In the first two rotations of the all-around competition, the vault was set a notch too low, resulting in a 5 centimeter, or 2 inch, difference. This is very important in a sport where the success of an element rests on spatial awareness and very small margins. Gymnasts like Great Britain's Annika Reeder, Brazil's Daniele Hypólito, and USA's Elise Ray made uncharacteristic errors on the vault. Then, Russia's Svetlana Khorkina, who was a favorite for the all-around title, fell on vault in the second rotation. Prior to her vault, Khorkina went to an Australian official to say that something was off on vault, but was ignored. During warm-up for the third rotation, Australia's Allana Slater echoed Khorkina's statements about the vault. The vault was then measured and was discovered to be set too low. The competition continued, but the athletes who vaulted in the first two rotations were given the opportunity to vault again once the competition was over.
  • Andreea Răducan was the original Olympic All-Around Champion in Sydney. Not only that, the Romanians intially swept the podium, with Simona Amânar winning the silver and Maria Olaru winning the bronze. However, several days after the all-around, Raducan was stripped of her medal after testing positive for pseudoephederine. Răducan and her coaches maintained that she was innocent, and that as a minor, she had only followed the treatment plan the team physician, Ioachim Oana, had recommended. The night before the competition, she had been given Nurofen, a common over-the-counter medication, to help treat a fever and cough. She also said that the pills had made her feel dizzy instead of helping her in any way. The gold was re-awarded to Amânar, Olaru was promoted to silver, and former fourth-place finisher Liu Xuan from China was given the bronze medal. Initially, Amânar and Olaru declined their new medals, but changed their minds in order to bring them back to Romania. Amânar returned the gold medal to Raducan, believing her to be the rightful 2000 Olympic All-Around Champion. Many fans feel the same way.
  • After Yang Yun admitted being 14 when she competed in Sydney on Chinese national television, she was subject to an investigation by the International Gymnastics Federation along with teammate Dong Fangxiao. Yang Yun was found to be innocent due to insufficient evidence in February 2010, meaning she was able to keep her bronze medal in uneven bars, but she was given a warning by the FIG. Her teammate Dong Fangxiao was found guilty and her results were canceled. On April 28, 2010, the IOC removed the Chinese team's bronze medal. The team bronze medal was awarded to the United States at the 2010 Visa National Championships.

Medal Count[]

Rank Country Gold-medal Silver-medal Bronze-medal Total
1 800px-Flag of Russia Russia 3 3 2 8
2 600px-Flag of Romania Romania 2 2 1 5
3 800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China China 1 1 2 4
4 800px-Flag of the United States (Pantone) USA 0 0 1 1

Gallery[]

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