On Sydney Harbour, it was an historic double sailing gold medal celebration with Australia’s Mark Turnbull and Tom King in the men’s 470 class, and Belinda Stowell and Jenny Armstrong in the women’s 470 class, both triumphant.

Australia had never previously won a women’s Olympic sailing gold medal, and we had never won gold in the 470 class. They were Australia’s first sailing gold medals since double gold victories at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

For the women’s crew, it was the day the ugly duckling turned into a golden swan.

Sailing their boat known as the “Ugly Duckling”, Stowell and Armstrong only had to finish in the top 10 to claim the gold, and they used the 15 knot conditions to their advantage to cross first.

“We love those conditions. We are not going to make mistakes in that, or we try not to,” said Stowell. Armstrong added; “We pulled back a lot once we knew we were in a good position.”

In the men’s 470 race, the Australians needed to finish within five places of the USA crew to claim gold, and they took full advantage of their downwind speed under spinnaker to sprint through the fleet after being towards the tail of the field at the first cross.

On the last windward leg, the Australians briefly took the lead but sailed conservatively and trouble free thereafter to cross in second place to clinch the gold medal to the shrill of horns and the roar of the crowd on Bradley’s Head.

Coach Victor Kovalenko said; “They showed maturity by not going for the win. They got in front for a while but decided to drop back to be sure of the gold.”

At the Olympic Stadium, Jai Taurima was engaged in a thrilling long jump contest before being edged for the gold medal by Cuba’s Ivan Pedroso.

Taurima raised Australia’s hope when leaping 8.49m with his fifth jump, however the Cuban responded to the pressure with his final jump eclipsing “Jumping Jai’s” mark by six centimetres.

“I gave it a crack today. I’m very happy with that. I’m just an average guy giving it my best and I’m proud to be an Aussie,” said Taurima.

Also proud was wheelchair athlete Louise Sauvage, who threw down the gauntlet to her rivals in the Paralympic Games to follow weeks later, when comfortably winning the women’s wheelchair 800m demonstration event.

A pair of bronze medals were secured in diving when both the men’s 3m Springboard and women’s 10m Platform synchronised diving pairs climbed onto the medal dais.

It was Australia’s first diving medals since Dick Eve won a gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics.

Rebecca Gilmore and Loudy Tourky were in fourth place with their final dive remaining, and they perfectly executed a back 2½ somersault with half-twist to leapfrog the Austrian pair and seize the bronze medal.

Inspired by the women’s medal success, the men’s pair of Dean Pullar and Robert Newbery surged into strong medal contention after their fourth dive which saw them move from seventh to second position.

“The girls got us really pumped and we knew we wanted to be on that dais too,” said Pullar.

The day will also be remembered for the heartbreaking disqualification of Jane Saville when she was red-carded for lifting or breaking contact with the ground at the back of the Olympic Stadium, just 200m short of claiming the 20km walk gold medal.

Saville, who dominated the race, had received two earlier warnings before the chief judge emerged with the fatal third card in the shadows of the entrance to the Stadium.

“I am devastated. I was thinking this was going to be the most awesome experience of my life and it was not meant to be,” said Saville.

#MySydney2000