To mark 100 days from the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Nine.com.au asked you what your favourite Olympic memories were in a survey. The response was overwhelming! We chose 50 of them to re-live, one a day, before new memories are made in Paris. Scroll on for today’s memory.
It was a moment that crushed American hearts and set a green and gold party raging.
The final of the women’s water polo tournament at the Sydney 2000 Olympics appeared to be headed to extra time. Australia and the US were locked at 3-3, and the dying seconds were ticking away.
But with 1.3 seconds left on the clock, Australia’s Yvette Higgins, taking a free throw, fired a rocket. Pelting the ball from nine metres out, she sent it sailing over the flailing hands of two defenders, past a desperate attempt from the goalkeeper, and cannoning into the top-left corner of the net. US coach Guy Baker, protesting on the pool deck, did not get his way.
One final restart followed, but with just two tenths of a second at the Americans’ disposal and the US trailing 4-3, the inaugural winner of Olympic women’s water polo had been decided.
A 17,000-strong crowd was rocking.
Watch the video at the top of the page to see the moment Australia won gold in the women’s water polo at the Sydney 2000 Olympics!
Australia celebrates winning water polo gold. Getty Images