Individual Pursuit (3,000 metres), Women

Marion Clignet (FRA) had been World Champion in 1999, after winning a silver medal in 1996. The defending champion, Antonella Bellutti (ITA), was back but had not placed at the Worlds since 1996. As with the men, the format was different in 2000. The 12 starters in qualifying advanced only four to semi-finals. The qualifiers included Clignet, Yvonne McGregor (GBR), and Sarah Ulmer (NZL). However, the qualifying was led by Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel, with a stunning margin of 3.066 seconds over Clignet. Zijlaard-van Moorsel had had an up and down career. In 1991 and 1993 she was World Champion on the road, won the 1992-93 Tour de France Féminine, and was World Champion in this event in 1990. But she withdrew from competition, suffering from anorexia nervosa and depression. She returned to international competition in 1998, winning the time trial World Championships in 1998-99. In Sydney she was the dominant cyclist, male or female. She won this event easily, overtaking Ulmer in the semis, and crushing Clignet in the finals by five seconds. In all, she won four cycling medals in Sydney – gold in the pursuit, the road time trial, the road race, and silver in the points race. She continued racing thru 2004, winning the pursuit World Championship in 2001-2003, and repeating as Olympic road time trial champion in Athina. Van Moorsel’s times were quite close to the World Record, which had been set in 1996 by Clignet. Back then, the )superman style) with two arms stretched in front of the rider was still allowed. This style was banned in the late 1990s, and these World Records have since been removed from the record books, but not yet in 2000.