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Australia Equestrian

2000 Five Dollar

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This Olympic Equestrian commemorative coin was part of a set released following the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. They depict 28 forms of Olympic sports. The obverse features an Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II, right-facing with tiara. It also has the legend ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2000. The reverse shows an Olympic Equestrian competitor performing a jump as well as the official Sydney 2000 Olympic logo and the five rings. This was designed by Philip Holliday and shows the denomination 5 DOLLARS.

The Olympic Equestrian event was split into six disciplines. There was an eventing individual, eventing team, dressage individual, dressage team, show jumping individual and show jumping team. The teams can be any combination of men and women, but it was the all male team in the eventing that won Gold for Australia. Phillip Dutton on House Doctor, Andrew Hoy on Darien Powers, Stuart Tinney on Jeepster and Matt Ryan on Kibah Sandstone. They beat the British team who managed silver followed by bronze for the USA team. In the show jumping event, the German team worked extremely hard against a strong Swiss team to retain their Olympic title. Brazil fought well for the bronze medal and had to have a 'jump off' against the French to seal it.

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.