The Don award, named in recognition of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame’s inaugural Inductee, Sir Donald Bradman AC, and introduced in 1998, is considered the highest of all honours in Australian sport, awarded to an athlete or a team for providing the most inspiration to the nation through performance and example in the past year.

The Matildas earned The Don Award for their remarkable performance in becoming the first Australian team to make a senior FIFA World Cup – men’s or women’s – semi-final. They caused a seismic sporting shift: transforming women’s football, uniting the country, inspiring the next generation of hopefuls, and further elevating women’s sport with a long-deserved national profile.

They smashed numerous records along the way, drawing extraordinary crowds to their games: nearly two million spectators at stadiums and hundreds of thousands at live sites across the country. On TV broadcast, their semi-final against England was the highest rating program in Australia since the current television ratings system began in 2001.

The Dawn Award, named after swimming great Dawn Fraser AC MBE and introduced in 2021, honours an individual, team, or organisation – from this or a previous generation – who are courageous, brave, and have changed sport for the better. It was struck to recognise those who may sit below the nation’s consciousness but whose stories are inspiring when given the light of day. Above all, like Dawn, the award winner has been a courageous ground-breaker who has demonstrated achievement against the odds and challenged the status quo.

In being bestowed upon the Australian Women’s Water Polo Team for their historic victory at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, The Dawn award for 2023 absolutely epitomises recognition for achievement against the odds and upending the status quo. The award salutes the culmination of a 20-year struggle to have women’s water polo included in the Olympics and the team’s unbending fight for acceptance and equality, which was as significant as the inaugural gold medal they won.

For years, Australia had advocated for women’s water polo to be included as an Olympic sport along with the men, who were in the Games from 1900. Undeterred by rejection in the lead-up to the 1984, 1992 and 1996 Olympics, the players and officials were relentless, protesting, meeting with International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials, and campaigning tirelessly to gain the recognition they deserved.

When Juan Antonio Samaranch announced in 1993 that Sydney would host the 2000 Games, FINA, the world swimming body, committed to introducing women’s water polo, before reneging on its pledge. The fight resumed – and this time the Aussie women refused to take no for an answer.

When the IOC and the president of FINA arrived in Sydney in 1997 to inspect the Games venues, they were greeted by members of the Australian women’s water polo team, wearing swimming costumes and bearing placards, demanding the same competitive rights as the men.

Players even gate crashed a media conference. The tide of public sentiment was overwhelmingly in the team’s favour, and with some help from the Australian Olympic Committee, their campaign, their perseverance and persistence was ultimately rewarded.

In October 1997, it was confirmed that women’s water polo would be included in the Sydney 2000 Olympics. However, with squads limited to 11, some of the experienced players were then uncertain about making the team and fulfilling their Olympic dream – a cruel irony.

After just one loss in the preliminary rounds, Australia, coached by István Gögényi, fought an epic battle with the USA in the final. With the scores tied and 1.3 seconds left on the clock, Yvette Higgins, who had just entered the pool, was awarded a free throw nine metres out and blasted the ball into the net to secure a historic 4-3 victory.

It was fitting that this Australian team, the spearhead for the inclusion of women’s water polo in the Summer Games, won that first gold medal. Without their courage and commitment, building on the groundwork of the pioneers before them, it might never have become an Olympic sport.

The 2000 Australian women’s water polo team inspired the nation with their will-to-win and never-say-die ethos, all played out on a home stage before packed, parochial crowds.