History’s Forgotten Races: The Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay, Sydney 2000

Courtesy: Corey He

When many of us hear the words “4×100 freestyle relay” — or, more accurately, the “4-by-1 free relay” — three Olympic races often come to mind: Jason Lezak’s legendary comeback over France in Beijing 2008, France’s come-from-behind victory over the U.S. in London 2012, and the United States’ return to Olympic glory over France in Rio 2016.

Essentially, we all know and love the rivalry between American and French swimmers.

But perhaps the 2nd-most epic Olympic showdown in the 400 freestyle relay (nothing will ever top Lezak’s otherworldly performance) is the one from Sydney 2000, a race that has somehow been lost in the swimming lore. Let’s wind back the clock.

Prior to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 4×100-meter freestyle relay had been contested seven times, with the United States winning all seven of these contests. This relay had become the Americans’ bread and butter — in fact, the Americans had won this relay at both the 1996 Olympics and the 1998 World Championships.

Thus, heading into the Sydney Olympics, the Americans had all the momentum on their side, and it seemed like the race would be a foregone conclusion. But there was one nation that was ready to stand up to the American challenge.

The host country, Australia.

Here’s some context: nearly 90% of Australia’s population lives near the coast, making it unsurprising that swimming is actually the biggest sport in Australia. In the same way children in the U.S. grow up wanting to play in the NFL or NBA, children in Australia grow up wanting to become professional swimmers.

So perhaps it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that Australia was ready to meet the challenge. And even if they had any doubt in their mind, they actually got some help from the Americans.

In the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics, Gary Hall Jr., one of the American relay swimmers and one of the greatest sprinters in American history, claimed that the Americans would smash the Aussies like guitars. This turned into perfect bulletin-board material for the Aussie quartet.

Hall’s words would loom large a few months later.

The final of the 4×100 freestyle relay was scheduled for the very first night of competition. The sell-out crowd in the arena was ready to explode: just an hour before the relay, Australia had just witnessed their young hero, 17-year-old Ian Thorpe, obliterate the competition in the individual 400-freestyle event on his way to a new world record.

Thorpe, now an overnight sensation, was set to anchor the 4×100 freestyle relay for the Australian team. The American anchor? That would be Hall.

As soon as the race began, the Aussies brought the challenge to the Americans. Australian sprinter Michael Klim swam the first leg for the Aussies, leading them off in a world-record time. At the 300-meter mark, Thorpe dove in with a lead of two-tenths over Hall. By this point, the two teams had distanced themselves by over three body lengths from the rest of the field.

Hall, being a sprinter, took his race out aggressively. Thorpe, with his strength as a longer-distance swimmer, did the opposite. As the two swimmers reached the 350-meter mark, Hall had overtaken Thorpe, and it seemed like history was going to repeat itself.

But not so fast. With the home crowd roaring him on, Thorpe kicked into another gear as the two swimmers made the turn for home. Gaining slowly but steadily with every stroke, Thorpe pulled up to Hall’s shoulder as Hall began to tighten up. With just 7 or 8 meters to go, Thorpe had pulled even with Hall and ever so slightly inched ahead.

As soon as Thorpe touched the wall, he knew immediately that he had won; he jumped out of the water and into the arms of his teammates, overcome with emotion. The entire arena erupted in elation and disbelief: the Aussies had just snapped the American streak. They had also taken a second and a half off of the American’s previous world record.

Some of the Australian swimmers even started making a strumming motion, a clear indication that they had not forgotten about Hall’s remarks. They had out-touched the American team by a margin of just 0.19 seconds.

Hall — and the rest of the American team — were gracious in defeat. Although their streak of Olympic victories in the 4×100 freestyle relay had come to an end, they still had much to be proud of: they had also gone under the previous world record by over a second.

Both teams finished nearly four seconds clear of the bronze-medal team. When it was all said and done, this had shaped up to become one of the greatest and most memorable moments in Australian sports history — and in Olympic history as well.

To date, Australia has yet to win another men’s 4×100 freestyle relay on the Olympic stage. But on that one magical night in Sydney, the support and excitement of an entire home country willed a young Aussie quartet to pull off one of the largest relay upsets in recent memory.