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Australia Gymnastics

2000 Five Dollar

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This Olympic Gymnastics commemorative coin was part of a set released following the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. They depict 28 forms of Olympic sports. It had a Raphael Maklouf design on the obverse showing a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, right-facing, crowned with necklace and earrings. It has the legend ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2000. The reverse was designed by Philip Holliday and depicted an Olympic gymnast in action on the floor exercise and showing the official Sydney 2000 logo. It also contained the legend 5 DOLLARS.

The Gymnastics event in the Sydney Olympics was dominated by the Russians. They won a total of twenty medals, including nine golds from a possible eighteen. The events included Floor, Rings, Pommel Horse, Vault, Horizontal Bars, Parallel Bars, Uneven Bars and a Balance Bar. There were individual and team awards. The Women's Vault event will be remembered for different reasons. There were many complaints at the time that the Vault was too low. Many competitors had complained before their jump that the height was wrong. These athletes had trained for so many years and just a small difference can make it dangerous. Elise Ray (USA), Annika Reeder (GB) and Svetlana Khorkina (Russia) all fell foul of this error and suffered injuries which destroyed any chance of a medal for them. Many more athletes had difficulties until Australian Allana Slater was next to complain that the vault was set too low. This time the officials paid attention. The vault was re-measured and found to be 5 centimetres lower than it should be (Summer Olympics, 2012) . But for the competitors that had already been injured this was too late.

The original Olympic Games took place about 3,500 years ago but they didn't last. It was originally held during a religious festival honouring the Greek god Zeus. The Games were abolished in 393 A.D. by the Roman Emperor, Theodosius I, as he tried to suppress paganism. They restarted 1896 and were held in Athens, Greece. It was a great success. The International Olympic Committee had been formed two years earlier. The resurrection was an inspiration from Baron Pierre de Coubertin back in 1887. To be held every four years, as per Ancient Games, the Olympic Games became a great success. The first one to be held in Australia took place in Melbourne, 1956 (Sydney Olympic Games, 2010) . In 1993, Sydney was awarded the opportunity to host the 2000 Olympic Games. This was a chance for Australia to shine. And shine it did. The Sydney games broke so many records including ticket sales, attendances, transport,catering and most importantly, they finished fourth in the medal tables.