SYDNEY, Australia -- One ran in gold shoes, carrying the weight of extraordinary expectations.
The other ran with heart and soul, and the burden of a nation's identity.
Both Michael Johnson and Cathy Freeman turned in spectacular 400-meter performances when nothing else would do.
The roar of the crowd and the emotion after the race "seemed to absorb into my every pore," said Freeman.
Said Johnson: "I'll take great memories from these Games."
Freeman bounced up and down on the medal stand. Johnson carried an American flag around the track.
A day that began with the worst in sport -- world shot put champion C.J. Hunter, of the United States, was found to have tested positive for drugs -- ended with the best.
On a clear and cool night at Olympic Stadium, both Johnson and Freeman stepped onto center stage and showed us how great these Games can be.
The czar's Russia stepped aside for Yeltsin's when gymnast Svetlana Khorkina finished second to teammate Elena Zamolodtchikova in the floor exercise finals. Khorkina's elegant routine to classical music found silver while Zamolodtchikova's more dynamic, fast-paced and freewheeling routine set to a compilation of modern tunes took gold.
Asked on late-night-Aussie-TV-Olympics-comedy-show The Dream if he believes that the U.S. team did end up "smashing the Australians like guitars," swimmer Gary Hall simply smiled and noted that the U.S. did perform very well. He added that possession of the "guitar" became a symbol of which team had momentum during the meet.
The three gymnasts who won medals in the men's vault competition gave each other heartfelt congratulations and threw their medalists' bouquets into the crowd. For the record, it is safer to catch a bouquet than a spiked track shoe.
With news that 300-pound U.S. shot put champion C.J. Hunter has tested positive for steroids and that tiny Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan is under suspicion of having used banned stimulants, apparently there is a drug for every shape and size.
Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov won gold on the high bar, bringing his 2000 take to six (two golds, one silver and three bronzes), the same medal total he had in the 1996 Olympics.
The United States was shut out in gymnastics, failing to win a medal -- men's or women's -- for the first time since 1972, not counting the 1980 Moscow Games to which the United States did not send a delegation.
The Australian Olympic Committee has asked Channel 7 television to stop asking Australian Olympians to carry the station's irreverent comedy show's unofficial mascot, "Fatso-the-fat-arsed-wombat" in team photos and on medal stands. The wombat, it appears, has become more popular than the official mascots of the Games.
With wins against China and Australia, the U.S. softball team avoided double-elimination and will play Tuesday against Japan with the winner taking home the gold medal.
Cathy Freeman has met all demands as an athlete and as a symbol. No doubt, one day the venue in which she lit the cauldron and won the gold will be Cathy Freeman Olympic Stadium.
This night belonged to the 35-year-old Carl Lewis, who 