On September 20, four months after she nearly gave up competitive swimming, Stanford senior Misty Hyman stood at the end of Lane 6 in the Olympics pool in Sydney, staring at the scoreboard trying to take in what she had just accomplished. Given little chance in a 200-meter butterfly field that included Australian superstar Susie O'Neill, Hyman led from start to finish, shaved four seconds off her previous best time and touched the wall in an Olympic record 2 minutes, 5.88 seconds, to win the gold medal. Afterward, Hyman seemed as incredulous as everybody else, shouting, over and over, "Oh, my God!" as television commentators scrambled to find hyperbole large enough to accommodate her victory. Said one: "This is the biggest upset in Olympic history."
Below is a rundown of all Stanford alumni and students who won medals in Sydney.
| Soccer | Julie Foudy, '93 | silver |
| Swimming | Misty Hyman, '01 | gold (200m butterfly) |
| Jenny Thompson, '95 | gold (4x100 medley relay and 4x200 freestyle relay), bronze (100m freestyle) | |
| Tom Wilkens, '98 | bronze (200m individual medley) | |
| Track & Field | Chryste Gaines, '92 | bronze (4x100 relay) |
| Water Polo | Ellen Estes, '00 | silver |
| Brenda Villa, '02 | silver |
