Sport
Only two years after arriving in Australia, Tatiana Grigorieva competed at Sydney 2000 – SBS News
When Tatiana Grigorieva left Russia in her early 20s to build a new life in Australia, she could hardly speak a word of English and had never pole vaulted. Soon after, she would represent her new country on the world stage at the Sydney Olympic Games.
Its been 20 years, but the crowd noise at the Sydney Olympic Stadium on 25 September 2000 has gone down in Australian sporting history.
This was Cathy Freeman’s moment; a moment to unify the nation in one giant wave of celebration. Everyone wanted to share her date with destiny in the 400 metres and was on board for the ride.
But out on the far side of the track, another Australian athlete, Tatiana Grigorieva, was battling hard to win a medal in the pole vault, and the crowd’s noise was a pr…
