Athletics at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games:

The dominant thrower was Romania's Mihaela Melinte. She had set four world records in 1999, won the 1998 European Championships, and the 1999 World Championships. During the warm-up for qualifying she was informed that she had a doping positive from a few days earlier, and she was out of the competition. That left the event wide-open but Olga Kuzenkova had finished second to Melinte at both of the major meets in 1998-1999. Poland's Kamila Skolimowska was the world junior record holder but had no major international experience, and she was only 17-years-old. In the third round she threw 71.16 (233-6) to break her world junior record and that cemented the gold. Kuzenkova threw over 69 metres in rounds three and four to move into second but fouled her final two throws.