Athletics at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games:

The defending champion Svetlana Masterkova, had won the 1998 European and 1999 World Championship, and was favored. But in her heat, she collided with another runner, fell, and was out of the competition. Without her, the final was wide open. The first lap of the final was absurdly slow, at over 70 seconds, the lead taken by Marla Runyan (USA), who was partially blind. America's Suzy Favor-Hamilton then took over and led for most of the next two laps, fighting off several challenges. Going into the final turn, she still led with Romania's Violeta Szekely and Algeria's Noria Mérah-Benida on her shoulder. Mérah-Benida took the lead coming into the final straight and would not be caught, although Szekely pushed her to the end, finishing only 0.05 down. Romania's Gabriela Szabo had been almost in last place on the backstretch but closed strongly to get the bronze medal.