Almost 20 Year On: What The 200 'Fly At Sydney 2000 Really Meant To Susie O’Neill
"I felt like this was my race, home crowd and to come second for me is failure.” - Susie O'Neill, 19 years after silver as defending 200m champion in the Sydney 2000 'fly final
Until this week, Susie O’Neill had never watched the full video of the moment at a home Sydney 2000 Olympic Games when she battled to get back in contention with American Misty Hyman in the 200m butterfly final – and fell shy of her target as a defending champion wanting to keep her crown.
Just how much the moment meant to her was obvious when, 19 years on, O’Neill broke down in tears during a live broadcast on her morning radio show after watching the 2000 race video.
“I felt like this was my race, home crowd and to come second for me is failure,” says O’Neill, for whom a 19-year gap had been significant once before.
She had entered the Sydney race a hot favourite: not only had she arrived at the Games as the swimmer who had finally, after almost 19 years, taken down the 1981 world 200m ‘fly record of legendary Mary T Meagher, but O’Neill had claimed 200m freestyle gold in an upset she caused just the day before. The Australian was on form. What could possibly go wrong?
