Susie O’Neill’s Sydney 200 ‘Fly Silver Still Raw\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Until this week, Susie O’Neill<\/strong> had never watched the full video of the moment at a home Sydney 2000 Olympic Games<\/strong> when she battled to get back in contention with American Misty Hyman<\/strong> in the 200m butterfly final – and fell shy of her target as a defending champion wanting to keep her crown.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

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,<\/strong> 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?<\/p>\n

The 200m ‘fly had long been a signature event for the 1996 Olympic champion. Hyman was world-class, too, but never before had the American been quite that good: she had often been a swimmer in contention at the 100m mark, not far off at the last turn but not in the same league as O’Neill and teammate Petria Thomas<\/strong> when it came to the hunt for home down the last lap.<\/p>\n

O’Neill qualified fastest for the Sydney 2000 ‘fly final alongside Thomas. The money was on a home 1-2 finish.<\/p>\n

Hyman led at the 100m mark, was still ahead at the last turn and, where in the past she had faded, refused to yield on her way to an Olympic record time of 2:05.88. Sensational.<\/p>\n