Sydney Olympics 2000: Where are Australia’s gold medal winners now?
They were the men and women who captured our hearts and minds with their golden efforts at the 2000 Olympics. From Simon and Lauren Burns, to Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe, we look at where our Sydney heroes are now.
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They were our heroes who captured our hearts with their golden efforts at the 2000 Olympics.
From Simon and Lauren Burns, to Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe, we look at where our Sydney superstars are now.
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CATHY FREEMAN
THE face of the Sydney Olympics was never the same athlete after winning the 400m gold medal. Freeman retreated out of the spotlight and struggled for motivation to get back to the track in the 12 months after the Games.
She was eventually lured back for the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002 where she won gold as a member of the 4x400m relay team.
With significant changes to her personal life – her husband Sandy Bodecker was diagnosed with cancer in 2002 and the pair then split in early 2003 – Freeman continued to struggle to reignite her passion for the sport. She reached breaking point after a number of below-par performances in July 2003, announcing her retirement at the age of 30.
She has kept a low profile ever since, preferring to focus on the Cathy Freeman Foundation which helps Indigenous children with their learning. She lives in Brighton, Victoria, with her husband James and nine-year-old daughter Ruby.
MEN’S 400M FREESTYLE – IAN THORPE
Just 17 when he won three gold medals in Sydney – all in world record time – Thorpe won two more gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics to become Australia’s most successful Olympian in any sport.
He announced his retirement in 2006 and made a brief unsuccessful comeback to try qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.
In 2014, he came out as gay and has been a vocal spokesman for equal rights and equal marriage.
In high demand, he now works as a global brand ambassador, keynote speaker, television commentator and is heavily involved in a wide range of sporting and philanthropic projects and issues.
MEN’S 1500M FREESTYLE – GRANT HACKETT
Ended Kieran Perkins’ stranglehold on the longest event in swimming, Hackett competed at two more Olympics, winning another gold in the 1500m and three more silver medals. He also held the world record for a decade before Sun Yang better his mark.
Hackett struggled in retirement and was involved in a series of public meltdowns, including the breakdown of his first marriage to Candice Alley, and drinking problems.
His good friend Michael Phelps helped with his rehabilitation. A business graduate, Hackett is now the CEO of Generation Life, one of Australia’s leading financial services companies, and engaged to Sharlene Fletcher. The couple had a son in January.
WOMEN’S 200M FREESTYLE – SUSIE O’NEILL
Madame Butterfly’ retired after Sydney with eight Olympic medals in her collection, including golds from Sydney and Atlanta.
She spent five years on the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission before forging a successful career in broadcasting.
She is currently a co-host on a Brisbane breakfast radio show. Married to an eye doctor – they have two kids – she has dabbled in music, releasing a single in 2018, and has been appointed as deputy chef de mission for the Australian team in Tokyo.
MEN’S ARCHERY – SIMON FAIRWEATHER
Simon Fairweather’s gold medal in Sydney was 12 years in the making after his first Olympic appearance was in Seoul in 1988.
His victory in the men’s individual event in Sydney was Australia’s only archery medal of the Games when he beat American Vic Wunderle 113-106 in their final.
Fairweather competed in a fifth Olympics in Athens in 2004 then after more than 30 years living in Canberra he returned to South Australia where he now runs his business called Fairweather Archery.
He competed in the world field championships as recently as 2016, although his competition days are now largely behind him, but he still shoots for fun and coaches a small group of archers while running his business which makes the ‘Fairweather Tab’ out of kangaroo leather.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL – KERRI POTTHARST AND NATALIE COOK
IT remains one of the quintessential images of the 2000 Games – 10,000 sunscreened green and gold Aussies deliriously celebrating the beach volleyball win of Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook at Bondi Beach.
Both can still feel the sand under their feet when they think of the moment and the celebrations that followed including rocking up at Bondi Icebergs where they became celebrity bartenders – wearing bikinis on the outside of their jeans, serving drinks before riding a clydesdale through Circular Quay.
Twenty years ago, Cook and Pottharst walked on hot coals to prove to themselves they could do anything and now both are sharing their insights with the next generation of Australian athletes.
Cook, executive director of Elite Success and Partnerships at the Queensland Academy of Sport, recently hosted a podcast On My Day in a bid to lift current Olympians including surfer Sally Fitzgibbons into a positive mindset in wake of Tokyo Olympics being cancelled.
A thousand kilometres south of the closed Queensland border, Pottharst hosted a program called The Athlete Story, where throughout what would have been 17 days of the 2020 Olympics, she shared stories with Olympic and Paralympic athletes on a free webinar series. Of which Nat was naturally a guest.
Both have found careers as authors and motivational speakers, both have married and had kids – Cook has a daughter Jordan, who turns five in October, with wife Sarah and Pottharst has a son Tyson, 14, with husband Max.
SHOOTING – MICHAEL DIAMOND
Diamond’s fall from grace is one of the saddest stories in Australian sport.
The six-time Olympian was one of Australian sport’s favourite sons when he claimed gold in the trap event at Atlanta in 1996 and went back-to-back four years later in Sydney. But in the past four years, Diamond’s off-field life has spun out of control.
In 2016, he was convicted of high-range drink driving and charged with firearm offences after police also found a shotgun in his car. That incident ruled him out of the Rio Olympics, but Diamond was later of acquitted on the firearms charges on appeal.
Left with $120,000 in legal fees, Diamond sold his Sydney gold medal in 2017 and last year, he put his cherished Atlanta medal up for action to cover medical bills after tests showed he could require a heart transplant. Diamond’s heart was only operating at 15 per cent, but he refuses to give up hope of one final Olympics campaign.
“It’s devastating,” Diamond told News Corp of his medals sale. “Athletes go their whole lives without ever winning an Olympic gold medal. I’ve won two and I’ve had to sell them both. It’s been a very rocky few years, but I’ll get through it.”
PHILLIP DUTTON, ANDREW HOY, MATTHEW RYAN, STUART TINNEY
Equestrian (Eventing team)
Australia’s four-rider equestrian team in 2000 was a remarkably united and inspired outfit in Sydney, soaring into rarefied company by snaring the three-day event gold medal for the third consecutive Games.
Since those highs, the team effectively scattered to the four corners of the globe.
Andrew Hoy, who will chase a record ninth Olympic appearance in Tokyo, now lives in England.
Matt Ryan, a towering figure in and out of the saddle, has retired and lives in Wales and is now involved in coaching and commentary.
Stuart Tinney, like Hoy, has some excellent young equine talent at his disposal and is chasing a Tokyo berth.
Phillip Dutton, who helped the Australians weather a fierce British challenge on the final day in Sydney two decades ago, switched to the US after Sydney – and could face his former teammates in Japan next year.
While Dutton has changed allegiances, he will forever cherish Sydney 2000.
“It’s pretty hard to beat, standing on the podium in front of your home crowd, family and supporters,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say my life changed but the experience was one I’ll never forget and cherish.
“The Three Day Event is a real marathon, you have a battle every day, trying to ride at your best and have your horse competing at his best and maximum performance in each phase.
“But I feel the cross country day was what made the gold medal possible.”
SAILING – JENNY ARMSTRONG, BELINDA STOWELL
IT might have been the “Ugly Duckling”, but it was the boat that provided one of the most beautiful moments of Sydney 2000.
It was streaming into Sydney Harbour that Belinda Stowell and Jenny Armstrong knew they had the gold, soaking up one of Australia’s most iconic landscapes on their way to glory.
Both champions were inaugural inductees to the Sailing Hall of Fame in 2017, with Stowell — who also competed in Athens — now head sailing coach at the WAIS and Armstrong coaching in Dunedin.
“That high that you get as an athlete can’t be repeated, I feel, as a coach,” Stowell said.
“Standing on the podium and singing your national anthem, there’s no feeling that can be better in your home country, especially where we did it on the steps of the Opera House, which was incredible.”
Kiwi Armstrong later admitted she had a “cheat sheet” in her pocket with the words to the Australian anthem.
The pair reunited on the hallowed turf for the hall of fame event in 2017.
“We reminisced on the harbour and it was so special being able to connect again,” Stowell said.
CYCLING – BRETT AITKEN, SCOTT MCGRORY
(Men’s Madison)
Forever linked by an Olympic gold medal and personal heartache, McGrory and Aitken still stay in touch with each other two decades after their emotional win in Sydney.
The duo won madison gold at the Games just 10 weeks after McGrory lost his infant son, Alexander, who was born with a heart condition, and in 2009, Aitken lost his daughter Ashli who was born with a rare neurological disorder.
Aitken is now living in Adelaide where he is head cycling coach of the South Australian Sports Institute while McGrory is based in Queensland and remains heavily involved with the sport.
He has done various media roles including hosting a show on Fox Sports and commentating major races, and was race director of the national road championships in Buninyong.
“I actually contacted him (McGrory) the other day to see if he had the full version of our race because I can’t find it, and he doesn’t have it either,” Aitken said.
“So if anyone does have a copy of it, that would be great.”
SAILING – TOM KING AND MARK TURNBULL
(Men’s 470)
It’s the “brotherly” bond that endures despite time and distance.
Mark Turnbull and Tom King went into the Sydney Olympics campaign as mates, and emerged “like brothers” with a gold medal in a boat that would forever be etched in Australian sailing history.
Turnbull now lives in Melbourne and runs marine events and marketing business New Tack, while King went into finance and is an esteemed chief investment officer who lives in Brisbane and works in Sydney.
“We don’t see him all the time, we basically lived out of each other’s pockets, we did amazing things together,” Turnbull said.
“We were friends going into the Olympic campaign, and we came out of it more like brothers.
“You spend so much time together that you’ve got a really strong relationship. It’s more like we’re family than best mates.”
ADAM PINE, TODD PEARSON, MICHAEL KLIM, ASHLEY CALLUS, CHRIS FYDLER, IAN THORPE
Swimming (Men’s 4x100m freestyle relay)
Micheal Klim won a total of six Olympic medals in his career. Married Balinese princess Lindy Rama in 2006. They had three children together before separating in 2016 but remain close friends.
Klim founded his own skincare products company MILK – his surname spelt backwards – which is now sold globally.
Ashley Callus went to more Olympics after Sydney, winning a bronze in the relay at Beijing. Won world championship and Commonwealth Games relays golds and an individual world short course title. Is now the high performance swim coach at Somerset College on the Gold Coast.
Chris Fydler retired shortly after Sydney. Is the current president of NSW Swimming and a long serving member of swimming’s world governing body FINA, serving on the ethics and disciplinary panels. Also a qualified lawyer who has held a range of legal, commercial and management roles in the IT industry for the past two decades.
Adam Pine competed at two more Olympics after Sydney, winning a silver medal in the medley relay at Beijing. Now manages the Paralympic program for Swimming Australia.
Men’s 4x200m freestyle relay – Grant Hackett, Bill Kirby, Michael Klim, Daniel Kowalski, Todd Pearson, Ian Thorpe
Todd Pearson also won a silver medal in Athens. Lives in Western Australia and is the managing Director of Statewide Oil Distributors and Southern Cross Lubes. Married Alisa, who he met while at the Australian Institute of Sport. They have two boys. They lost their first son Zac, suddenly and unexpectedly in 2009, when he died in his sleep at 22 months. The couple set up the Zac Pearson Legacy to honour his memory and fund research into unexplained deaths in infants.
Daniel Kowalski retired in 2002 with four Olympic medals, including three individuals from Atlanta 1996. Completed a degree in sports marketing and hosted a radio program in Melbourne. Was appointed to the role of Olympian Services Manager at the Australian Olympic Committee in 2018 where he runs athlete transition programs including mentoring, education and creating career development opportunities.
Bill Kirby swam the anchor leg to seal Australia’s gold and world record. Won another gold at the 2001 world championships before retiring from the sport. A father of three, he now runs a successful learn to swim business in Perth.
THE HOCKEYROOS
OUTSIDE of the Ken Done Opening Ceremony banner that greeted the world with the one word “G’day” – the only surer thing about the Sydney Olympics was the Hockeyroos winning gold.
After eight years of world domination, there was a sense of inevitability about the Hockeyroos as they went on to beat Argentina 3-1 to become the first women’s hockey team to successfully defend an Olympic title.
Twenty years on, this gold-minted team – engineered by the enigmatic Ric Charlesworth – are doctors, directors, and decorated with OAMs and AMs.
Some work at AFL clubs while others coach at an elite level and juggle families. Later this month – the team will reminisce with an online reunion.
Kate Allen: Coached at the Victorian Institute of Sport before becoming the national assistant coach of the Hockeyroos two years ago.
Alyson Annan: Head coach of the Dutch team, Annan coached the Netherlands to a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics. Alyson married partner Carole Thate, former Dutch hockey captain in 2005. The couple have two sons Sam and Cooper.
Renita Garard (nee Farrell): Chair of Port of Townsville and director of Queensland Rugby League since 2017. Also served as a director for Hockey Australia from 2000-2012. Married Gerry Garard (father of Brendan who won bronze with the Kookaburras in 1996).
Juliet Haslam: Director Hockey Australia, and also Director of J5 Consulting which focuses on sports consultancy, business management and corporate speaking. South Australian is mum to two teenage boys.
Rechelle Hawkes: Consultant in leadership, teamwork and business development, also an athlete mentor.
Nikki Hudson: The effervescent striker, the first to play 300 games for Australia, settled on the Gold Coast. Spent many years working in corporate sales for the Gold Coast Titans.
Rachel Dwyer (nee Imison): WA-based doctor living in Perth with her husband and two children, and working in child health.
Clover Maitland: Research and Evaluation Manager for Cancer Council Victoria. Holds a PhD and has been working in health promotion research, evaluation and practice since 2001.
Claire Mitchell-Taverner: Wellbeing and Development Manager for West Coast Eagles AFL club.
Jenn Morris: National Director Strategy for Cannings Purple, a strategic communications consultancy. Also non-executive director of Fortescue Metals Group and Australian Sports Commission.
Alison Peek: Living on a farm in the Naracoorte area in South Australia, coaches junior hockey.
Katrina Powell: NSW Institute of Sport head hockey coach for the past seven years. Part of the Gold Medal Ready Program to help athletes prepare for the pressure of the Olympics.
Lisa Powell: Teacher’s aid in Melbourne, married Stuart Carruthers, who won bronze at 1996 Olympics with the Kookaburras, couple has three kids – all have represented Victoria in hockey.
Angie Lambert (nee Skirving): Married Kookaburra goalie Stephen, and helps run the couple’s electrical business. Mum-of-two runs the hockey program at Moreton Bay College where she has roped in Sydney teammate Julie Towers to help.
Kate Starre: High Performance Manager with the Fremantle Dockers in the AFLW.
Julie Towers: Mum-of-three works as a nurse, and helps out Angie Lambert coaching at Moreton Bay College in Queensland.
Ric Charlesworth: Still based in Perth and still demanding excellence. Currently high performance coach at RC Sports.
TAEKWONDO – LAUREN BURNS
NOW in her fifth and final year of her PhD, Lauren Burns has turned from gold medal champion to mentor for the next generation of Olympic stars.
Burns claimed Australia’s first taekwondo medal at the Sydney 2000 Games, but has since transformed herself into a successful keynote speaker, motivational mentor to athletes and business leaders, a qualified nutritionist and media identity.
“I’ve been researching lifestyle practices and mindsets of elite athletes [for her PhD], it certainly wasn’t what I started doing, but it’s been nice to be back in that space from a different perspective,” Burns said.
“It’s given me a much greater understanding of even my own journey by researching these athletes. We did 10 Olympic and world champions in the first study, people like Cathy Freeman, Ian Thorpe, Layne Beachley, some amazing athletes.
“And the second one we did 135 athletes in that elite level and pre-elite. One of the big things that came out of it was the importance of interpersonal relationships, I know with my journey, one of the biggest factors in my success was the people I had around me.”
Burns, a 46-year-old mother-of-two, is hoping to play a role in the next wave of Aussie success.
She is working with the Gold Medal Ready program through the Australian Institute of Sport, assisting athletes preparing for Tokyo and Paris, including mentoring Paralympian middle distance runner Jaryd Clifford.
As part of her business circuit speaking, Burns will often have employees punching through planks of wood as motivational exercises – once she had 800 people do it simultaneously.
She continues to do boxing training, but after retiring was forced to undergo six knee operations so longer practices competitive taekwondo.
WOMEN’S WATER POLO TEAM
The Stingers have never reached those same dizzy heights again since winning the gold at Sydney. They finished fifth at the world championships in 2001 then fourth at the 2004 Athens Olympics. They did win bronze medals at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics as well as silvers (2007, 2013) and bronze (2019) at world championships and are one of the leading contenders for next year’s postponed Tokyo Olympics.
Kate Hooper lives in WA. Currently in her final semester at Notre Dame completing a Bachelor of Commerce. Previously was the owner of a fashion boutique in Sydney.
Bronwyn Smith (née Mayer) lives in Sydney. Operations Manager Australian Women’s Olympic Water Polo Team.
Jo Clark (nee Fox) lives at the Gold Coast. Senior Marketing Manager – BrainStorm IT.
Taryn Woods currently Communication and Engagement Consultant with Aurecon. Sydney based.
Naomi McCarthy (née Castle) is the manager Griffith at Sports College in Brisbane. Involved in AIS Gold Medal Ready Program.
Danielle Woodhouse is currently a Sports Physiotherapist in Perth and
AIS Gold Medal Ready Program Alumnus.
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Yvette Higgins is a physical Education teacher. Based in Sydney.
Debbie Watson is one of the all-time greats who has been inducted in both the Australian Sports Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame since retiring. Now works as a Primary school teacher on Sydney’s northern beaches. Also AIS Gold Medal Ready Program.
Liz Scott (nee Weekes) is a mother of two, coaches junior girls water polo team in Perth.
Gail Miller is a real estate/property developer in Brisbane.
Simone Fountain (nee Hankin). is a regional Manager – WA Dept Local Govt, Sport and Cultural Affairs.
Bridgette Ireland (nee Gusterson) is a Sunshine Coast based business owner.
Melissa Byram (nee Mills) is a mine controller for BHP in Queensland.