Athletics at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games:

Many of the pre-Olympic favorites were eliminated in the qualifying round. The final was contested in a rainstorm which made the competition a true crapshoot. The winner was the very lightly-regarded Szymon Ziólkowski (POL), who won with his fourth-round throw of 80.02 (262-6½). His best previous year-end world ranking was ninth in 1998, and he had not been ranked in 1999. The 1992 silver medalist, Belarussian Igor Astapkovich, came thru in round five with his best mark of 79.17 (259-9) which tied his teammate, Ivan Tikhon, but Astapkovich won the bronze based on his second-best mark, 79.06 (259-4¾), which he recorded in the final round.