Swimming at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games:

With one gold medal already in her locker, Penny Heyns of South Africa looked a clear favourite to win the breaststroke double. When she broke the Olympic record in the heats and qualified for the final with a time that was a second and a half ahead of anyone else it seemed her victory was a foregone conclusion.

If the rest of the world believed Heyns was unbeatable nobody had told 14-year-old Amanda Beard of the USA. Heyns led from the gun but the gap between her and Beard closed quickly in the closing stages and the South African had only a third of a second to spare at the finish. After her country had had waited 44 years for an Olympic gold Heyns had won two within 48 hours.