Olympic history-year by year-Summer

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2000Sydney, Australia
The Millennium games returned to the Southern Hemisphere for the second time. The flame was brought into the stadium by Herb Elliott, who passed it on to some of the great Aussie female Olympians of the past-Cuthbert, Strickland, Boyle, Fraser, Gould, and King. Then they passed it on to the Present-400 m star Cathy Freeman, who lit the torch.
Triathlon made its debut.
Ian Thorpe and Tom Dolan were multiple winners in the pool.
Steven Redgrave became rare 5 time Gold Medalist.
Freeman won the 400, becoming the first to light the flame and win a Gold at the same Olympics.
Marion Jones was originally one of the great stars of the games, winning 3 golds and 2 bronze. But after she admitted using PEDs she was disqualified and stripped of her medals.
In one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history, Tommy Lasorda's US baseball team defeated Cuba 4-0 for the Gold Medal.
Another great upset was the loss of Undefeated Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin, who was seeking his 4th Gold and had never lost in 13 years of international competition. He was beaten by American Rulon Gardner.
The indominable Lions of Cameroon won the Soccer Gold.
Despite Jones and Anthony Petigrew losing theirs, the US won the medal count.

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2004Athens, Greece
108 years after the Modern Olympics started in Athens, the Olympics had traveled to 16 countries and 20 cities, the Games returned home to Greece. The torch relay sent the torch all over the world before being lit by 1996 Gold Medal Sailor Nikolaos Kaklamanakis. The Games Motto was simply Welcome Home.
A record 202 nations participated in the games.
For the first time since NBA players started participating, the US had to settle for less than gold in basketball, winning bronze.
Liu Xiang won China's first Track and Field Gold Medal.
Brigit Fischer wins two medals for the 5th time, a gold medal in her 6th different Olympics.
Michael Phelps wins 6 gold and 2 silver. He will return for more.
Windsurfer Gal Fridman of Israel and Hurdler Félix Sánchez of the Dominican Republic win their country's first ever Gold medal. Nicolás Massu wins two Gold medals in Tennis, Chile's first ever Golds.
Carly Patterson joins Mary Lou Retton as America's only gold medalists in the All Around Gymnastics competition.
Hicham El Guerrouj is the first since Paavo Nurmi to win both the 1500 and 5000.
The US again leads the medal count with 103.

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2008Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
They had only been participants since 1984. But the most populous nation in the world got the games of the XXIX Olympiad. A spectacular Opening Ceremony was climaxed by China's first Olympic star, gymnast Li Ning, flying around the stadium before lighting the flame.
The unquestioned star of the games was Michael Phelps, who added a record 8 gold medals(breaking Mark Sp8itz' 36 year old record) to the 6 gold and 2 silver he won in Athens. In doing so, he set 7 World and 1 Olympic record. His 14 gold medals smashed the old record for a career of 9 held by Nurmi, Latynina, Spitz, and Lewis. If he gets 2 medals in London, he will tie Latynina for total medals.
The 100 m Butterfly was won by Phelps by .01 seconds in one of the closest races ever.
Track had a new star in Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who won 3 golds, setting World records in all three. Jamaica won the 100 and 200 for both men and women, something no other country except the US had ever done.
The hosts dominated Men's gymnastics, winning all but 1 gold medal. They also took the Woman's team gold. The US women did well, with 2 golds, 5 silver, and a bronze.
The US did regain their Basketball gold.
Baseball had its swan song at the games. South Korea won the gold.
Open water swimming and BMX cycling made their debut.
204 nations participated.
China won the most Golds with 51, but lost the total medal count to the US, 110-100.