Australia's best sport moments in every year (since 2000).
- Lachlan Sherriff
- Jan 27, 2022
- 9 min read
Updated: Oct 21, 2025
Written by Lachlan Sherriff
2000: Cathy Freeman wins gold
What a legendary moment. Hosting the entire Olympics was brilliant in itself. But if we have to pick one moment, you can't look past Cathy Freeman's run in the 400 meters final. After going over fifty seconds in all three of her qualifying runs, Cathy pushed herself in the final and won with a time of 49.11, with the fastest time recorded in any Olympics run in Sydney, with her final 100 meters surging her home into first place. All on home soil. Absolute star.
2001: Lleyton Hewitt wins US Open
Lleyton Hewitt in the early 2000s had the ability to strike fear in the heart of any opposing tennis player. It worked in New York against Pete Sampras. The young Aussie controlled the game from the first serve and went 7-6, 6-1 and 6-1 to win his first major Grand Slam. Following the win, Hewitt became the number one male's tennis player, becoming the youngest ever to do it.
2002: Bradbury skates to glory
The greatest thing I've ever seen. In the final of the 1000 meter speed skating at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, Steven Bradbury found himself well behind his four opponents at the start of the final lap. But while watching sport, you can always expect the unexpected, and there may be nothing more unexpected then what happened next might've been the most unexpected thing that could've happened. On the final turn, three of Bradbury's opponents crashed into each other, the fourth one somehow tripped over them, and the last man standing skated over the finish line with his hands in the air. People still reference "doing a Bradbury" two decades later.
2003: Matthew Hayden makes 380
What a brilliant knock. In the first of a two test series against Zimbabwe, Australia's very own Matthew Hayden had a then world-record innings at the WACA. Hayden faced 437 balls and made an incredible 380 runs, hitting 38 fours as well as eleven of his 82 career sixes in one innings, before eventually being caught out by Stuart Carlisle. Hayden's heroics inspired Australia to smash Zimbabwe by an innings and 175 runs. Unfortunately Hayden's record was topped seven months later by legendary Trinidadian batter Brian Lara, who's score of 400 is still the record today. But for a while there, Australia's very own Matty Hayden had the best test score anyone had ever seen.
2004: Ian Thorpe joins Australia's history books.
Ian Thorpe was one of the hottest young swimmers on the market in 2004. The 22 year old had already won thirty-five races, having been to the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships. There was much hype around him considering he had gone to Barcelona for the World Championships and won three Gold medals. So when the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens rolled around, he made sure not to disappoint. Thorpe lit up Athens for two gold medals, a silver medal, a bronze medal, an Olympics record in the 200 meter freestyle (1:44.71), and became Australia's most successful swimmer ever. Did I mention he was only 22?
2005: The Socceroos break the drought.
1972. That was the last time Australia had qualified for the FIFA World Cup. 33 years later, they booked their ticket into one. The CONEMBOL-OFC playoff game, set for a two legged tie between Uruguay and Australia, was some of the best 180+ minutes of soccer you'll ever watch. The first leg, an away game in Montevideo, didn't fall the way of the Aussies, with a Dario Rodriguez goal handing the Socceroos a 1-0 defeat. But when the second leg in Sydney began in front of nearly 83,000 diehard Aussie fans, everything went right. Mark Bresciano scored ten minutes before half-time to tie it up on aggregate, which is how it stayed. Cue penalty heroics, with Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill, Anthony Vidmar and John Aloisi all scoring penalties, while goalie Mark Schwarzer made himself an instant legend by saving two penalties to break the Australia World Cup drought. Many still consider this the best moment of Socceroos history.
2006: Shane Warne's 700th wicket.
An honourable mention to the Socceroos, who after making it to the World Cup, made it out of the group and got all the way up to the Round of 16 (and it would've been further had it not been for a dodgy Italy penalty). But I can't overlook Shane Warne's 700th Test wicket. Even the circumstances were dreamt up perfectly. Against dreaded rivals England, with almost 90,000 fans at the G, and the current bowler on 699 wickets, Shane Warne bowled a ball to Andrew Strauss so beautifully it was unhittable. It smashed into the middle stump and the entire stadium erupted. Warne went onto get eight more career wickets, retired on the back of winning the Ashes 5-0, and finished second in all time career Test wickets, behind Muttiah Muralithian. Not a bad career.
2007: Lis Ellis goes out in style.
Liz Ellis is considered by many to be the best Australian netballer of all time. In her final game ever, she sure played like it. In a cross-Tasman derby against New Zealand at the World Championships, the Diamonds came out hot and firing and took a seven goal lead at half time. New Zealand came back and cut the lead down to one, but it wasn't enough as the Aussie prevailed for a 42-38 win, which was Liz Ellis' third ever World Championship. She announced her retirement after the game.
2008: Wallabies win in England.
Anytime you beat in England as an Australian athlete in any sport is sweet. When you do it in their own backyard its even sweeter. The Wallabies got to experience that in 2008 when they played at Twickenham Stadium in London in front of 81,000 English fans and still won. The English lost themselves the game when they gave away seven penalties - Matt Giteau scored the first six and captain Stirling Mortlock scored the seventh - before Adam Ashley-Cooper try sealed the match and gave Australia a famous 28-14 victory.
2009: Aussie women win first rugby sevens tournament.
The girls part of the 2009 Australia rugby sevens team can always say they were apart of the first ever female's team to win a World Championship. Blowout wins against China and the Netherlands and a tight loss to France was enough to qualify for the knockout stages in second place. From there on out it was smooth sailing. 17-10 wins against both England and South Africa got us in the final before beating the old enemies New Zealand 15-10 to win the inaugural female's World Championship. Our very own Selica Winiata top scored the tournament with 52 points.
2010: Stuart Appleby's iconic 59.
The Greenbrier classic was a PGA tour for ten years. The first one belonged to Victorian Stuart Appleby. After he was done in West Virginia, he had a score of 59, only the fifth to ever have that score and the first by a non-American. Appleby had nine birdies, including three on his last three shots, and an eagle throughout the impressive match which was good enough to get him a spot in the World Championships, which were only a week later.
2011: Cadel Evans wins Tour De France.
Australian cyclist Cadel Evans made history in the 2007 Tour de France by winning silver and becoming the first Australian to ever get up on the podium after a Tour De France. It wasn't enough for him. And four years later he took the next step. Evans won the prestigious tournament by a time of 94 seconds, and became only the third non-European athlete to ever win the Tour De France.
2012: Michael Clarke makes 329 not out.
This wasn't quite Matthew Hayden vs Zimbabwe. But it was close. Five days into the new year, Australian cricket skipper Michael Clarke had a real captain's hit against India. In the first innings of the SCG test, Clarke went on a hot streak with 39 fours and a six without being dismissed. This innings from Clarke currently sits equal thirteenth as the highest singular score by a batsman.
2013: Josh Kennedy puts Australia in the World Cup.
Another Socceroos qualification. This one wasn't as intense as 2005 but was still important, as big Josh Kennedy scored a header in the final World Cup qualifying match. The Socceroos were drawing 0-0 to the worst team in the group, Iraq who had only picked up five points, and things were looking nervy. But step forward Josh Kennedy. The target man scored a header in the 83rd minute, his fifth of the qualifiers, and Australia qualified for the 2014 World Cup.
2014: Whitewashing the Ashes.
What a legendary team. You had guys like Davey Warner, Shane Watson and Chris Rogers batting, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Stuart Broad were bowling, Brad Haddin with the gloves and Michael Clarke as the skipper. Good times. England never stood a chance in that series, and the results show it. The Aussies won their games by 381 runs, 218 runs, 150 runs, eight wickets and 281 runs. It was superb cricket, and in my unqualified opinion, Australia's best ever performance in an Ashes series.
2015: The Socceroos win the Asian Cup.
Another moment that lives on in Socceroos fans hearts. A 2-0 win over the United Arab Emirates had booked in Australia's spot in the 2015 Asian Cup Final against South Korea, which would be played at ANZ Stadium in front of 76,000 fans. The game was in the the Socceroos hands after a Massimo Luongo strike put them up 1-0 in the 45th minute, but South Korea superstar Hueng-Min Son scored at the last minute to tie it all up. Nevertheless, Australia prevailed, with a James Troisi goal enough to hand the home side a 2-1 win. Amung the celebrations Massimo Luongo was announced the best player of the tournament, while fellow countryman Matt Ryan one best goalkeeper of the tournament.
2016: Daniel Ricciardo takes home the Malaysian GP.
I couldn't write this article without including Daniel Ricciardo, could I? The talented F1 driver from down under always seems to win some Grand Prix or another, and 2016 was no exception. The Western Australian won the Malaysian Grand Prix on the second of October in 2016, with an impressive time of 1:37:12.776, while Dutch teammate Max Verstappen came second, handing Red Bull there first one-two since 2014.
2017: Tim Cahill heads Australia into the World Cup.
Another Socceroos qualifying moment. These boys never do it the easy way do they? The hero this time was our very own Timmy Cahill. After Syria's Omar Al Soma put Syria up after just six minutes, Cahill found the reply seven minutes later with one of his trademarked headers. After the match went into extra time, Cahill scored the winner with yep, another header. Goalie Matt Ryan made a world-class save in the final minute of the game and Australia qualified for their fourth consecutive World Cup.
2018: Aussies win Commonwealth Games at home.
I just couldn't pick one moment from these games. I really couldn't. From athletics to lawn bowls and everything in between, the athletes in green and gold dominated the Commonwealths up in the sunny Gold Coast. Our athletes ended up grabbing eighty gold medals over the two weeks, 35 ahead of second place England (beating them again), and winning the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
2019: The Boomers shock the USA.
What a moment this was for Australian basketball. The USA had come out to Marvel Stadium to play two exhibition games against the Boomers. Yes, they smashed us in the first one, but we don't have to talk about that, no one remembers it. What they do remember is the second match, when the boys in green and gold handed team USA their first loss in thirteen years. The star of the show was Patty Mills, who lighted up for thirty points, including thirteen in the last quarter. It was the first time Australia had ever beaten the US in basketball and holds a special place in all Aussie basketball fans hearts.
2020: Aussies win the ICC Women's World Cup
What a brilliant night for women's cricket. After making it to the final, all on home soil, the Aussies went out onto the MCG and destroyed India by 85 runs. Beth Mooney and Allysa Healy dominated with the bat, making 78 and 75 respectively, while Megan Schutt took four wickets, alongside Jess Jonasenn, who took three. Oh yeah, and there was a concert afterwards by US pop star Katy Perry. As someone who was there, that's probably the closest our country will ever get to a Super Bowl halftime show.
2021: Ash Barty brings Wimbledon trophy Down Under.
Australia's Ash Barty is the world number one. She showed why in Wimbledon last year. After making it to the final against Czech Karolina Pliskova, Barty took a 6-3 lead in the first set. She narrowly was edged out 6-7 in the second set, but made the day hers, with yet another 6-3 win in the third set. This feat made Barty the first Australian to win a Grand Slam in a decade (minus her 2019 win in Paris), and the first in nineteen years in Wimbledon.
2022: Dylan Alcott wins 2022 Australian of the Year.
We're not even through January yet Australia have already had a legendary sports moment this year - not on the court but off it. On January 25th, 2022, it was announced that wheelchair athlete Dylan Alcott had won Australian of the Year. The tennis star had to be flown up to Canberra to win the award, just to fly back to Melbourne where he'll focus on another goal, winning the 2022 Australian Open.
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