Welcome to part IV of our trawl back in time with the fourth 10 entries in the Top 100 memories of the past decade - Jan 1, 2000 to end '09 - starting backwards from 100 downwards in chronological order from the beginning of the Millennium. The top 10 will disregard the chronological order of things and dedicate itself to events that went beyond the thrill of a singular moment or event.

Today: 70 - 61 - the year 2003

70. July 21. Somewhat of a retrospective entry in our list, this was the day on which Leisel Jones (AUS) proved that she was solid for the role of bride not bridesmaid. Three years after claiming silver at a home Olympic Games in Sydney, Jones took down the global standard that had stood to 1996 double Olympic champion, Penny Heyns (RSA), since 1999 over 100m breaststroke: 1:06.52 to 1:06.37. The Australian's move came a day too soon, however. After    laying down the gauntlet in the semis at the world championships in Barcelona, 2003, a nervous Jones struggled to believe that this was her moment - in the final, she tightened and clocked 1:07.47 for bronze, behind 1:06.80 for Luo Xuejuan (CHN) and 1:07.42 for Amanda Beard (USA). Beard, on her way to Olympic gold in 2004 after silver and bronze medals in 1996 an d 2000, claimed the 200m crown three days later by equalling the world record with a 2:22.99 effort ahead of 2:24.33 for the Australia. Jones swam on through choppy waters and endured criticism at home by the likes of legendary sprinter Dawn Fraser and some media commentators Down Under as the girl who could not live up to expectation when at Athens 2004 she finished third in the Olympic 100m final and second in the Olympic 200m final a month after having set her first world record over the longer distance to stand as double world record holder - 100m and 200m - for two days (Beard hit back at US Olympic trials two days after Jones's record swim). Back home, she made a break with the past, physically, metaphorically and, in time, in terms of how she measured her self worth. She left long-time mentor Ken Wood for Swiss coach Stephan Widmer, who advocated that she work not only on developing in water but developing her personality and life interests out of it. In 2005, a more confident, self-assured Jones claimed the world titles over 100m and 200m (2:21.72 world record) world titles. In her new guise as "Lethal Leisel", Jones powered to 1:05.09 and 2:20.54 world records in 2006 and retained her world crowns in 2007 before claiming Olympic gold over 100m in 2008. The tales of Jones, world champion at last in 2005 and 2007 and Olympic champion in 2008, and Beard are inspirational and speak to the proverb "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again" (that can be traced back to American educator Thomas H. Palmer, who wrote in his 1840 Teacher's Manual: 'Tis a lesson you should heed, try, try again. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.' The phrase  was used in The Children of the New Forest (1847) by English novelist Frederick Maryat (1792-1848). In 2003, Jones also set world s/c records over 100m (1:05.09) and 200m (2:17.75). Those, along with American Lindsay Benko's historic sub-4-minute effort over 400m free (3:59.53 in Berlin on January 26), were the outstanding efforts from the little pool. Benko was thrilled after thrilling. I recall the moment when she bounced out of the pool and ran a gauntlet of autograph books, t-shirts, pens and posters that rained down on her from the stands like an instant ticker-tape parade. She had been cheered all the way by teams from all over the world. Lindsay Mintenko currently works for USA Swimming as the National Team Managing Director, assisting National Team Head Coach and General Manager Mark Schubert, who was her coach in California. She is married to former Canadian international Mike Mintenko.

69. July 25: Japan's rising son secures the third breaststroke double in world-championship history (Wilkie, '75; Rozsa, '94) with a world-record victory of 2:09.42 in the 200m at Barcelona 2003. Kosuke Kitajima, born September 22, 1982 in Tokyo, stood just 1.77m tall and weighed in at 71kg when he reigned in Spain. Four days earlier, the Norimasa Hirai-coached ace had won the 100m crown in a world record of 59.78 a day after having become the second man in history to break the 1-minute mark (on 59.98) after Roman Sludnov (RUS) - an historic 59.97 in June 2001 and 59.97 to claim the world crown later the same year. In Barcelona, both podiums featured Brendan Hansen (USA) and a different British swimmer, James Gibson in the 100m (see entry 65 on our list) and Ian Edmond in the 200m. The Japanese ace's style provoked protest from the USA that he was using a butterfly action underwater out of turns. These protests were lodged again at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and prompted a poolside outburst from Kitajima that made history in itself and will be recalled in the next ten entries in our top 100 memories of the past decade.  Much more to come from Kitajima, who would end the decade as a quadruple Olympic champion and the most successful breaststroke specialist in swimming history.

68. July 25: Aaron Peirsol takes the first global long-course backstroke double of his career, over 100m and 200m, at the Barcelona 2003 world championships. The American, who at 17 won Olympic silver over 200m at Sydney 2000,  crops up time and time again on our list and one quality stands out strongly - his journey through a decade from which he would emerge as king of backstroke and one of the all-time greats of the discipline is marked by steady steps of progress at the heart of a career largely devoid of roller-coaster drama (though he suffered defeat - Lochte - and disappointment through mistakes of his own making - missing the final at Rome 2009). Over 100m, Peirsol set a championship record of 54.28 in the semis before clocking the first sub-54sec in world championship to take the crown in 53.61, 0.01sec outside the world record held by the double Olympic champ and teammate who kept him at bay over 200m at Sydney 2000, Lenny Krayzelburg. The Barcelona silver was shared on 53.92 by Arkady Vyatchanin (RUS) and Matt Welsh (AUS), who four days earlier had added a string to his backstroke bow with victory  in the final of the 50m 'fly in a world record of 23.43. For Peirsol, the 200m was a more dominant affair. On a 1:55.82 championship record in the semis, the American, coached by Eddie Reese in Texas, swam 0.1sec slower in the final and a stroke down on his world record of 1:55.15 to take the gold medal by 1.55sec, having led in style from blocks to touch pad. More on Peirsol later in our list.

67. July 26: Ian Crocker beat Michael Phelps in style on several big occasions over 100m butterfly, none of them when gunning for Olympic gold but two of them on the way to the world title in world-record time. On July 25, the semi-finals of the two-length butterfly battle witnessed a demolition of the 51.81 standard set in 1999 by Michael Klim (AUS): the first semi saw Andriy Serdinov (UKRR) shave 0.05sec off the mark as Crocker clocked 52.21; a few minutes later, Phelps struck back with a 51.47. Come the final, Crocker was on fire. The fastest 50m split the world had seen by a world-record holder was a 24.10 by Klim on the way to the Olympic silver at Sydney 2000, while his 1999 world-record split was 24.49. The question at the half-way mark of the Barcelona final was simple: Phelps went through top the WR on 25.11 and now Crocker sizzled on 23.99, compared to 24.39 for Serdinov and 24.61 for Phelps (who turned in 7th place, with 200m specialist Franck Esposito, FRA, the last man through, in 24.70). Phelps produced the fastest finals return - 26.49 (after an historic 26.36 in the semi that was the quickest return ever seen among world-record holders). Serdinov (along with all other bar one) was overhauled as he swam t the touch pad in 27.20. Crocker came home in 26.98, keeping Phelps at bay by 0.12sec and scoring the first sub-51sec effort in history. A modern measure of the quality of Crocker: at the close of the shiny suits era and a p-e assault on the clock, the top 25 all-time performances over 100m fly include just four efforts that pre-date suit wars: three belong to Crocker (including No5) and one to Phelps. Crocker's 100m 'fly victory gave him access to the finals four of the USA medley relay, which produced a third gold medal for Eddie Reese's pupil and a world record of 3:31.54 for the USA, with the other two members of the "Texas Trio", Aaron Peirsol and Brendan Hansen (all from that one Texas squad) and Jason Lezak, who five years on would produce one of the most sensational bursts of suit-assisted speed to keep alive the eight-gold medals target of Phelps. If Crocker was the swiftest 'fly swimmer of his era (he entered the shiny suits era as world-record holder), he was also the best blogger among swimmers in the past decade, his prose often prosaic and profound. This is an extract from his post-Beijing blog: "8 years after Sydney and what seems like many lifetimes, I still haven’t been able to soak in the fact that I’ve even been to an Olympics at all, let alone three. I’ve spent every day since I first got on the National Team looking towards tomorrow. I think that’s about the only way to do it. As soon as a goal is reached, set a new one. Eighteen years of goals set, reached and reset, always looking ahead and having minimal time to enjoy the minutes you’re in, let alone the achievements as they pass. It all adds up to one day standing still and asking yourself, 'what just happened'." A tremendous sporting achievement sits at the surface of a man much deeper.

66. July 26: Hannah Stockbauer, from Nürnberg, becomes the first swimmer ever to win the 400m, 800m and 1,500m free world titles at one championship. She peaked in spectacular fashion between Olympic Games efforts that stemmed from promising to falling woefully shy of her best. The German, coached by Roland Böller at Erlangen, notched up a unique record in World Championship history at Barcelona in 2003 thus: she took the 400m freestyle crown on day one (4:06.75) and then retained the two long crowns that she had first won in 2001 - the 1,500m (16:01.02 in 2001, 16:00.18 in 2003) falling two days after the 400m, and the 800m (8:24.66, 8:23.66) unfolding on the penultimate day of the eight-day programme. Grant Hackett (AUS) would match the feat in Montreal two years later. Stockbauer's Olympic efforts did not compare to those of Hackett or her own world champs outings: at 18 in Sydney 2000, she excelled for 5th and 6th respectively over 800m and 400m freestyle; four year on in Athens she finished 12th and 14th in the 400m and 800m in times of 4:10.46 and 8:38.17 and said she was mystified by her lack of form, which matched a general underperformance by the German team as a whole. Stockbauer did stand on the Olympic podium, however: she brought the Germany 4x200m quartet home to bronze in Athens before retiring, aged 23, in October that year.

65. July 26: Katy Sexton, coached by Chris Nesbit in Portsmouth (later Australia), clocks 2:08.74, 6th best ever, over 200m backstroke to become the first British woman ever to win a solo world swimming title 30 years after the global long-course gathering made its debut in the sport. Her gold was one of two for Britain - the other going to James Gibson in the 50m breaststroke - at the helm of eight medals, a record for a nation that had won a total of 15 medals - four of those for David Wilkie and four for men's relays - between 1973 and 1998 inclusive. A big step up, then, three years into the tenure of performance director Bill Sweetenham, a man brought in to put the Great back into Britain after a period of 40 years in which one of the founding members of FINA had let things slip in terms of being able to turn up with squads regarded as forces in their own right beyond the excellence of a few individuals. Breathing some Australian fighting spirit back into the old world went hand in hand with a smarter approach when it came to handling swimmers. Not that many years before it was not uncommon to see the one or two swimmers who excelled (Moorhouse, Gillingham, Jameson, Palmer, Smith) hailed, understandably, as heroes, while those who underperformed were treated to a pat on the back and a "never mind - better luck next time". Sweetenham had some thoughts on that, and they manifested themselves on July 26 in Barcelona: after the 200m final, he patted Sexton on the back and said "good job", then spent a great deal of time in the warm-down pool with Sarah Price, a world short-course record setter and double Commonwealth champion in 2002 who had had a bad week and had finished 8th in the 200m final in Barcelona. I asked why, and this is what Sweetenham said: "Katy did not need me or anyone else right then. She'd done a great job, seized the moment and 'good job' was all she had to hear from any of us to know that we appreciated what she'd done. She knew what she'd done and she knew what it was worth. It was Sarah who needed us, Sarah who needed support. Here was a swimmer down and in need of building up. This was no time to tell her 'never mind and better luck next time'. Of course it matters when things go wrong but what happens next is never down to luck but down to how you cope and what you do to make the next time better. It is at those moments that you can lose a swimmer forever. It is neither a time to say 'it doesn't matter' nor a time to say 'you did all of these things wrong'. You can come back to that later. The best time to point out to a swimmer that they could improve 'here and here and there' is just after they've done the best set in their lives, set a world record or won a gold medal because nothing is going to upset them and they will be open to receiving messages that help them go even better. How the coach handles success and failure can determine the longevity of a great athlete." Which takes us to the next entry...

64. July 26: Sprint Tsar Alexander Popov is back. And how: 11 years after the first two of his four Olympic crowns from the 1990s, seven years after a life-saving operation in the wake of being stabbed by a water-melon seller on a street in Moscow and three years down the line from a post-Sydney-silver break, one of the finest ambassadors Russia and the sport of swimming have ever known rocketed to world crowns in the 50m and 100m freestyle. In the 50m, success for the evergreen Popov meant a second title nine years after Rome 1994. His time, a championship record, no less, of 21.92, gave Popov, coached by Gennadi Touretski, a fourth entry among the best 10 performances ever, a list topped by his 2000 world record of 21.64. In the 100m, a 48.42 effort placed Popov 0.26sec ahead of Olympic champion and record holder Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED), who also took bronze in the 50m and silver in the 200m behind Thorpe. Popov claimed a third gold medal as member of the winning 4x100m freestyle quartet ahead of the USA. Popov's 47.71 was the third fastest split ever at the time and the third-fastest in that final: Hoogie went 46.70, while Fred Bousquet, unable to get past a personal best of 49.27 on his own, clocked 47.03, the difference in the two sides of the Frenchman a central feature in the career of a swimmer who suffered badly from a lack of confidence when out there on his own. By the start of 2008, Bousquet's solo best was 48.97. He ended the shiny suits era, December 2009, on 47.15. Unable to make the top 10 in any season over 100m free between 2000 and 2008 inclusive, Bousquet was No 3 in 2009, for 4th all-time. The measure of Popov - who retired after missing finals in both sprint events at Athens 2004 - in the thread of swimming history, meanwhile, suffered badly in the shiny suits era as far as time on the clock was concerned: In january 2008, the best times of one of the all-time greats of the sport ranked him No1 all time over 50m freestyle and No 8 over 100m. By the close of 2009 on the eve of a ban on non-textile fabrics and bodysuits that buoyed performance, the briefs-loving Popov, whose honed physique served as an iconic image for the sport, had slipped to 15th over 50m and 28th over 100m on lists that now include only three  pre-shiny suit efforts, total for both events, faster than the Russian. In 2008, on the eve of the Olympic Games in Beijing, Popov urged swimmers to set aside what suit was being worn but said that he would not have been enticed to wear a Speedo LZR for advantage. "I would rather do something more fascinating, to bring more effort into it to get to the medal instead of using some help," the Russian said. "I have one piece of advice. If you want to swim good, if you want to swim fast and if you want to be able to be number one, then be prepared to be hurt, to experience lots of pain."

63. July 27: At the end of a week in which he had finished second to teammate Ian Thorpe in the 400m freestyle, won the 800m and helped Australia's 4x200m free quartet to victory, Grant Hackett (AUS) retained the 1,500m freestyle crown for a record third time, in 14:43.14, his third best effort and the 4th best ever next in line to the stunning best we saw from Kieren Perkins (Olympic champ 1992, 1996). Hackett, a giant of his sport and a man coached by Denis Cotterell, often swam in the shadow of the likes of headliners Thorpe and Phelps. In the wake of Barcelona, news emerged that the American would win a $1m bonus from Speedo if he could match Mark Spitz's record seven Olympic gold medals as the Games returned to its birthplace, Athens. The same sum, it was reported in the US, has also been held up to any American swimmer and his coach who could crack Hackett over 1,500 metres freestyle. This is what the Aussie ironman with the largest lungs in the universe (so to speak) told me: "Incentives like that wouldn't work for me. In fact when they're put up against me it helps me ... it's pinned to the wall at home and when it's tough to get up at five in the morning, it reminds me what the US are doing to try to beat me. it drives me on through the rain, my heart leaps from my chest." At Athens 2004, Hackett retained his 1,500m crown - but what a race it was ... and more of that later.

62. July 27: Until the advent of Yana Oleksandrivna Klochkova, no woman had ever retained an Olympic or world medley title. In the four years from 2000 to 2004, she conquered both those feats. On the last day of action in Barcelona, Klochkova, coached by Nina Kozuch, won both medley titles, the 200m for the first time, in a 2:10.75 championship record, while retaining the 400m crown in 4:36.74. Her efforts prompted lofty folk back home to grant her the "Hero of Ukraine" medal. The 400m crown might have been a record third victory in a row had it not been for the presence of Chen Yan (CHN) at the helm of the 1998 final a short while before she tested positive for steroids and, to China's shame and that of the rogues around her, was banned. After Barcelona, Klochkova, who took silver in the 1998 400m final 2sec behind Chen Yan, went on to retain both Olympic medley title in Athens 2004 and retired as the most successful medley ace in the history of women's swimming. 

61. July 27: we save the best of 2003 until last, and the last from Michael Phelps at the end of eight sensational days in Spain was the first sub 4:10 400m medley, a 4:09.09 breathtaking in scope and dare. The world championships in Barcelona (and indeed the entire season that year) marked the rise of Baltimore's bullet from super-talent of great promise to the cusp of a great expectation beyond all: as the man capable of scaling Spitz's Olympic heights and heights as the biggest standard setter the sport had ever known, as the man who might soon be described as the most versatile swimmer the world had ever seen. In Barcelona, Phelps built the next notes in what would come to be known as a swimming symphony, one composed by coach Bob Bowman. Phelps broke records within records and rehearsed what a year later would become an assault on Spitz.  What a week it was: July 22 - gold in the 200m butterfly in a world record of 1:53.93; July 23 - silver behind Australia in the 4x200m freestyle in an American record of 7:10.26; July 24 - a world record of 1:57.52 in the 200m medley semi-final; July 25 - a world record of 51.47 in the second semi-final of the 100m butterfly, followed within the hour by a world record victory in the 200m medley, of 1:56.04; July 26 - silver medal in 51.10 in a 100m butterfly final won by teammate Ian Crocker (see entry 67 above) in a 50.98 world record; July 27 - a world record victory in 4:09.09 over 400 IM. In the  midst of it all, he became the first man to break world records in separate events in the same session. By the end of 2003, the world of swimming had witnessed 17 world long-course records, 15 among men and two among women. Phelps accounted for eight of those new standards, a run that included an audacious assault on the 200m medley world mark, the third of four world marks in that event one that left the Barcelona crowd open-mouthed and believing it had surely seen the singular moment that summed up the logan of the championships: "Just unbelievable". The short medley attack started the day before Phelps's 18th birthday, at Santa Clara on June 29: 1:57.94 wiped out the nine-year old world record of 1:58.16 set by Jani Sievinen (FIN) on the way to one of the most sensational moments of the 1994 world championships in Rome; at Barcelona, Phelps clocked 1:57.52 in semis and faced a showdown with freestyle giant Ian Thorpe in a final that would determine whether the Australian might add the all-round event to his Olympic programme for 2004; the final provided a hammer-blow of an answer: Thorpe clocked a terrific 1:59.66 for silver, that time then the 7th best ever - but the American thundered to a 1:56.04 win that had all the hallmarks of a man who did not just want to win but was aiming for achievements in the outer orbit of world sport. He was no longer beating rivals but butchering them and placing other candidates for the pantheon of greatest of greats in the shade. In any other world champs week, Thorpe's wins over 200m and 400m (for the third time) would have stood out (and did in pure swimming terms, of course) but Phelps dominated the headlines throughout 2003 and stole them in that rehearsal week in Spain en route to a reign in Athens a year on. After Barcelona, at College Park on August 9, back in domestic waters for US nationals, Phelps stormed to a 1:55.94 win, the first sub-1:56 effort. I asked Bowman if Phelps challenged him as a coach and what that helped Bowman bring to the table. The coach said: "He challenges me, yeah. I think that Michael has a very shigh regard for me. He doesn't challenge me on what we should be doing in training. I do think that he wants to have input into what we are doing, which I am giving him and I think that where we really clash is where I'm trying to push him to a position he doesn't want to be pushed. On a daily basis I remind Michael of what his long and short-term goals are and how he stands today in relation to that. That's where that whole thing comes in where many say 'I'll deal with it tomorrow'. I'm there to say 'no, let's deal with it today'. That's my job. When we've had tempers flare, that's where the issue is. He may not be ready to face that at that time and I make him do it or get him to a situation where it happens. He has physical gifts. He can train very hard, he recovers pretty quick ... what Michael has benefitted from is a very consistent development and leadership though this whole thing. Any decision I made was with the long-term goal in mind. It's kind of how it went with Ian Thorpe and Doug Frost. That transition is critical. That's where it starts. When they're 11 or 12, when they learn the attitudes that are going to carry them forward or not."

The Top 100:

Part I: 91 - 100, the year 2000.

Part II: 81 - 90, the year 2001.

Part III: 71 - 80, the year 2002.