Libby Trickett's face told the tale of a massive build up to these Games and the great expectations placed on her back home. She had done what she came to do, the 100m butterfly crown hers in 56.73, 0.12sec shy of Inge de Bruijn's world and Olympic record but a Commonwealth record and second-best ever.

Trickett blasted away from her blocks and led by a bodylength at the half-way mark, at 26.43. Jessicah Schipper (AUS) and Christine Magnuson (USA) followed on in 26.93 and 26.95 and then set about hunting Trickett down but the world champion had done more than enough. The clock stopped in the second-best time ever seen in Olympic waters after the Dutch diva's stunning blast (pre-latest-technology) in Sydney 2000. It was Magnuson who got the touch for silver, in 57.10, with Schipper third in 57.25.