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National sports highlights

This section outlines some of the notable performances by Australian representatives.

Brisbane hosted the Goodwill Games in September 2001 and Australian athletics medallists were: Matt Shirvington, Dmitri Markov, Nathan Deakes, men’s 4 x 100 metres relay team, Melissa Rollison, Tatiana Grigorieva and Bronwyn Thompson.

In March 2002, Athletics Australia had the most successful World Cross Country campaign. Team results were: Open women fifth, U20 women fourth, Open men fourteenth, and U20 men eighth. Two top-5 places and another five top-30 positions were achieved in individual races, in which up to 200 athletes competed.

Australian road cyclists had a memorable year both in Europe and Australia. Stuart O’Grady held the leader’s yellow jersey for a record six stages during the 2001 Tour de France, while Cadel Evans, in his first full year as a professional cyclist, held the leader’s pink jersey in the 2002 Giro de Italia. At home, Michael Rogers won the Tour Down Under from Robbie McEwan, who was the overall points winner. Anna Millward continued to have success, finishing the Women’s World Cup Road series in first place.

Australian divers recorded their largest number of medals with Irina Lashko winning silver and Loudy Tourky and Matthew Helm winning bronze at the 2001 World Diving Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July 2001.

Karrie Webb became the youngest woman ever to achieve the Career Grand Slam in golf by winning the 2001 LPGA Championship, and successfully defending her title at the US Women’s Open. She became the seventh player ever to win back-to-back championships.

Men’s artistic gymnast Phillipe Rizzo won Australia’s first ever World Championship medal with a silver on the high bar. Other outstanding results at the World Championships included women’s artistic gymnasts Allana Slater’s fourth placing on the floor, and Jacqui Dunn’s sixth placing on the uneven bars.

The Australian netball team maintained its dominance in the international arena and remains the world and Commonwealth Games champions.

Australian female rowers recorded their best ever result at the 2001 World Championships in Lucerne, with three gold medals to the women’s eight, women’s four and women’s quad sculls. These results helped Australia to third place on the gold medal tally.

The Wallabies, Australia’s national rugby union team, currently hold every major trophy in world rugby for which they have competed, including the Tri-Nations Trophy and the Bledisloe Cup. In 2001, the Wallabies won the British and Irish ‘Lions’ Test series in Australia for the first time in rugby history.

Australia continued its domination of world surf life saving by placing first at the Goodwill Games. The Australian team defended its title as the world number 1 at the World Championships in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Australian swim team laid claim to top nation status at the 2001 FINA World Swimming Championships in Japan, topping the gold medal tally. Highlights included:

• Ian Thorpe won six gold medals to become the highest gold medal winner in World Swimming Championship history. He also broke four world records and was voted Best Performer of the Meet.

• Petria Thomas won the 100 and 200 metres butterfly ‘double’ to add to her gold medal in the women’s 4 x 100 metres medley relay together with team mates Dyana Calub, Leisel Jones and Sarah Ryan.

• Grant Hackett smashed the world record for the 1500 metres freestyle by over seven seconds.

• World records were achieved by the men’s 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay team of Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Michael Klim and William Kirby, and by Geoff Huegill in the 50 metres butterfly.

In total, Australian swimmers broke six long course world records and nine short course world records over the year.

Australia remains a world leader in tennis. Lleyton Hewitt achieved the number 1 world ranking in November 2001, and he also topped the ATP’s Champions Race and won the final Masters Cup in Sydney. A few weeks later, he joined Patrick Rafter, Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge for the Davis Cup World Group final at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, where France narrowly beat the Australians 3 rubbers to 2.

The Australian wheelchair tennis team - David Hall, David Johnson and Anthony Bonaccurso - gained second place in the World Team Cup. David Hall also won the Nasdaq 100 Open, the Florida Open and the Japan Open.

Australian triathletes continued to lead the world in international events. Michellie Jones, Peter Robertson, Greg Bennett, Loretta Harrop and Chris Hill all won individual World Cup events, while Chris McCormack and Loretta Harrop also won gold at the 2001 Goodwill Games.

Australian sailors again made an impact in world competition, gathering 17 World Championship titles over the year: nine open titles, five junior titles and three titles in masters competition.

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