Held spellbound on a magic night

OLYMPICS 1012/DEFINING MOMENTS:Has there ever been a day in Olympic history to rival Sydney on Monday, September 25th, 2000? Showdown after showdown on an epic night, writes IAN O'RIORDAN

THEY CAME to witness Australia’s moment of glory, and ended up dazzled by the greatest night in the history of track and field. Nine finals, one epic showdown after another, plus some Olympic redemption at last for our own Sonia O’Sullivan.

Has there ever been a day in the life of the Olympics to rival Monday, September 25th, 2000? Will anything in London even come close? No amount of money, hype, or organisation can ever guarantee what unfolded in Sydney almost 12 years ago – although here’s hoping.

4pm, Sydney local time: The turnstiles open, the crowds spill hurriedly through, and soon Sydney’s Olympic Stadium is filled to a capacity 112,574. There’s a slight chill in the air, and a nervous excitement too. This fourth day of track and field begins with bad news: American shot putter CJ Hunter, the reigning world champion, had tested positive for the steroid nandrolone, back in July, which helps explain his sudden withdrawal from Sydney.

It also leaves Hunter’s wife Marion Jones with some explaining to do, despite her claims she knew nothing about it. Jones had won the women’s 100 metres, two days previous, yet her “drive for five” is suddenly shaken – and subsequently proven a sham. Not that the Australian crowd is bothered by it all, as their own more natural wonder woman, Cathy Freeman, is preparing to make her second grand entrance.

After lighting the Olympic flame 10 days earlier, in a moment of emotional Australian unity, the 27-year-old Freeman, with distinct Aboriginal origins, is expected to deliver their first track and field gold medal.

6pm, Women’s Pole Vault: They gather under the Olympic flame, all 13 of them and the event itself making their Olympic debut. Considered by some a sort of novelty show, the women’s pole vault is proving as exciting as the men’s – thanks to the former American rodeo star Stacy Dragila. In the weeks before Sydney she’d twice broken the world record, and wooed the crowd in the process. Here the Australians are being wowed by Tatiana Grigorieva, the former Russian who’d switched allegiance in time for Sydney.

Neither of them had feared Vala Flosadottir, yet she takes the lead after the fourth round with 4.50 metres, set to become Iceland’s first ever female Olympic medallist. Dragila is just one vault away from missing a medal altogether, but recovers, then ends up battling with Grigorieva for gold. After nearly three hours Dragila finally clears 4.60, Grigorieva narrowly fails, while joining them on the medal podium is the teary-eyed Flosadottir. Amazing.

6.40pm, Men’s 110 metres hurdles: Only eight finalists make it, and among them is defending champion Allen Johnson, more than just the best sprint hurdler in the world, but the master of major championships, even in an event where so much can go wrong.

But Johnson looks a little shaky in the semi-finals, and appears tense as they line up for the final, just two hours later. Cuba’s Anier Garcia gets an awesome start and never looks back, winning in 13 seconds flat, as Johnson hits all 10 hurdles, ends up fourth – while Britain’s Colin Jackson, running in his fourth Olympic final, finishes fifth, once again missing that elusive Olympic gold. Brilliant.

7pm, Men’s Discus: He’s the part-time bodyguard to a former Lithuanian president, but Virgilijus Alekna is better known as the best discus thrower on earth, going unbeaten in 14 competitions in the months before Sydney – except for his last one, when Germany’s Lars Riedel beats him in Berlin and thus creates a sudden air of uncertainty.

Indeed Riedel looks to have established a winning throw in the third round, with his 68.50 metres, but up steps Alekna, smokes the circle, throws 68.73 – and that settles it.

8pm, Men’s Triple Jump: It’s five years after his amazing world record of 18.29 metres, and Jonathan Edwards, at age 34, looks worryingly vulnerable, still haunted by his defeat in the 1996 Olympics, and the two World Championships since.

When Russia’s Denis Kasputin jumps 17.46 in the second round, a season best, Edwards is already in trouble, yet coolly responds in the third round, zipping through the three phases like a pebble over water, to clear 17.71 – a season best of his own.

Edwards passes his fifth and then fouls his sixth jump, yet his 17.71 holds up, and he raises his eyes to heaven in relief. Wonderful.

8.10pm, Women’s 400 metres: She walks onto the track dressed in a tight, hooded body suit, looking every bit the super hero, but pressure written all over her face. She crouches into the blocks, lane six, and when the gun fires, the entire stadium erupts.

Cathy Freeman seems born for this moment, but it’s not looking easy, and only around the final bend does she hit top gear, and burn off Jamaica’s Lorraine Graham and Britain’s Katherine Merry. The roar is deafening, her time of 49.11 the fastest of the year, and Freeman just sits motionless on the track, her blank expression mirroring the impossibility of it all. Incredible.

8.25pm, Men’s 400 metres: There’s no denying the man to beat here, even at 33, as Michael Johnson struts his way onto the start line. Surprisingly, he’s slowest out of blocks, but once into that pitter-patter stride, Johnson looks in total control and wins in 43.84 – becoming the first man in Olympic history to defend a 400 metres title. Superb.

8.55pm, Women’s 5,000 metres: Whoever came up with this evening’s schedule couldn’t possibly have predicted that as Sonia O’Sullivan lined up on the backstretch for this final, and as Cathy Freeman was being summoned to the medal podium, watching them both from the stand would be Nic Bideau — the former coach, manager and partner of Freeman, and now partnered with O’Sullivan.

But O’Sullivan has other things to worry about, as after just three laps, she starts to tail off, drifting back to second last, some 40 metres behind race leader Gabriela Szabo – her old nemesis from Romania. Inexplicably, the leaders slow, O’Sullivan recovers, until with 600 metres to go, Szabo darts into the lead. O’Sullivan chases hard, her Olympic dream suddenly alive again, and crazily they go neck and neck all the way down the home stretch — until Szabo just about nails it, in 14:40.79, with O’Sullivan falling .23 of a second short.

Not that it really matters: O’Sullivan becomes the first Irishwoman to win an Olympic medal on the track, and deservedly celebrates with a lap of honour, the tricolour in one hand, a furry wombat in the other, exactly as Freeman gets her gold medal on the podium. Unbelievable.

9.35pm, Women’s 800 metres: There she is, the unmistakable Maria Mutola. Considered past it for Sydney, Mutola rallies one last time, passing Britain’s Kelly Holmes in the final 50 metres for a truly heroic victory in 1:56.15. Classic.

10pm, Men’s 10,000 metres: What else can the night possibly throw up? Only the best 10,000 metres of all time, reduced to a 100-metre sprint, as Haile Gebrselassie – the defending champion from Ethiopia – chases down Kenya’s Paul Tergat, the man he only narrowly beat four years earlier in Atlanta. Just when it seems certain he’ll run out of track, the great Ethiopian leans with all his might, and steals it, 27:18.20 to Tergat’s 27:18.29.

It’s true, impossible is nothing, summing up the entire night.