Settings Subscribe  

NumisTip

Australia Baseball

2000 Five Dollar

Values

Sales History

Current listings

?

This Olympic Baseball 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 Baseball competitor preparing to throw the ball 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 Baseball Tournament was based at the Sydney Baseball Stadium. For this Olympics, professional baseball players had become eligible to compete. This would give strength to some teams that had previously struggled and the USA would instantly spring to mind. Baseball is a huge sport in the States and the top talent are all professional players. Since the inclusion of baseball to the Olympic calendar, Cuba had won Gold at every games (Wikipedia, 2013) . This was set to change. The Baseball final was between USA and Cuba. The USA won 4-0 and with it their first Gold medal. It was also a special event in the bronze medal play-off. South Korea earned their first ever medal in the sport by beating Japan 3-1. Australia had previously beaten the Koreans but hadn't progressed from the group stage.

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.