At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Germany's Birgit Fischer tallied two victories in kayaking, for the sixth and seventh gold medals of her career. In rowing, England's Steven Redgrave earned gold in the sport for the fifth straight Olympics.

Despite having lost in the women's finals at the past two Olympics, Japanese judo extra-lightweight fighter Ryoko Tamura prevailed in Sydney, defeating Russia's Lyubov Bruletova in the championship bout in just 36 seconds. In swimming, much to the delight of the hometown Australian crowd, native swimmer Ian Thorpe collected five medals, three of them gold. In the medal count, America defeated Russia 97-88.