Welcome to part VI of our trawl back in time with the sixth 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: 41 - 50, the year 2005

50. January 22: the Blade cuts deeper. After the storm of Olympic-year 2004, 2005 was a relatively calm affair but not for all and certainly not for Roland Schoeman, one of the kings of the African sprint relay. On this day at the Berlin round of the world cup, the Arizona-based sprinter coached by Rick Demont, the first man to race below 4mins over 400m free when he lifted the inaugural world title in 1973, got a fabulous year off to a great start when he equalled American Ian Crocker's 46.25 world s/c 100m free record (more on Crocker's astonishing textile 50.40sec world 100m butterfly and win ahead of Phelps at Montreal 2005 further on along our countdown). Crocker had clocked the mark at East Meadow in March the previous year to wrest the 46.74 record that had been in the grasp of quadruple Olympic champion Alex Popov (RUS) since 1994, when the Russian cracked the standard four times in the first 10 weeks of the year on his way to winning the world long-course crowns over 50m and 100m in Rome come September. Schoeman (who also features in entry 40, below) was far from done and followed a similar path to that of Popov, capitalising in sharp early season form with two world titles at the world long-courtse championships, held in July in Montreal: on the 24th, he set a world record of 23.01 in the 50m 'fly semis, then a day later claimed the crown by becoming the first man to break 23sec, his winning 22.96 as fast as Rowdy Gaines (USA) swam on freestyle back in 1980. Five days later, Schoeman added the 50m free crown in Montreal with a 21.69 blast that came closer to Popov's world mark of 21.64 than anyone ever had. Silver went to Duje Draganja (CRO), a key figure in entry No40 (see below) on our list, and bronze to Bartosz Kizierowski (POL), the minor spoils won in 21.89 and 21.94, the first sub-22sec podium ever. Two years later, at Melbourne 2007, the podium of Americans Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Cullen Jones and Sweden's Stefan Nystrand ranged from 21.88 to 21.97, with all other finalists over 22sec. At the height of shiny suit wars in Rome 2009, the last man home in the final was Nystrand, on 21.53, while the last man home in semis was Kenya's David Dunford, on 21.89, an effort that was made possible because his seven fellow semi-finalists staged a sit-in and refused to walk out for the race until Dunford had been allowed to change shiny suit because the first one he had donned had split in the nature of p-e apparel of a fragile and dubious nature. Back in 2005, when world records were noteworthy for their rarity, Schoeman's efforts in Montreal contributed to an annual tally of 11 world long-course marks and 11 world s/c records, of which Ryk Neethling (RSA) and Libby Lenton (AUS) accounted for six, three a piece. Neethling, 5th in the Olympic 1,500m free final in 2000, launched an assault on the 100m medley standard on the same day as Schoeman's 46.25 over 100m free. At 52.11 on that day, Neethling left the mark at 51.52 on February 11. Lenton made history on August 8 with the first sub 52-sec 100m freestyle, a day later taking her 51.91 best down to 51.70 at Aussie nationals. Later that year, on November 19, she also added the 200m free to her treasury of standards, on 1:53.29, the first sub 1:54 effort. In Europe, Laszlo Cseh (HUN) and Laure Manaudou (FRA) emerged as king and queen of the little pool, with world marks in the 400 medley (4:00.37) for the Hungarian and over 400m for the French freestyle ace (3:56.79) a year after she had set her first global mark, over 1,500m s/c  in 15:42.39, the first effort recognised by FINA as an official world record.

49. April 2: Peirsol on a path to another twin peak. At US nationals and trials in Indianapolis, Aaron Peirsol (USA), the double Olympic champion coached by Eddie Reese, reinforced his growing status as backstroke ace of the decade with a 53.17 world record in the 100m. It was his second mark in the 100m, and on July 26 he retained the world crown. Three days later, Peirsol set the fifth world l/c backstroke record of his career (8th including s/c efforts over 200m), his 1:54.66 effort dominating the race and making him the first man to retain the 200m title twice. The man in third, young teammate Ryan Lochte, on 1:57.00 would stop Peirsol making it four in a row in 2007 and a year later would prevent, by 0.39sec, Peirsol from joining Roland Matthes (GDR) as the second member of a club of one among men who managed to retain both Olympic backstroke crowns.

48. July 25: the Advent of Katie and Kate. On the second morning of action at the world championships in Montreal, US team debutante Katie Hoff rested up for the final of the 200m medley, for which she had qualified well ahead on 2:11.71. Only she had gone faster that season, with a 2:11.24 at US trials. As Hoff prepared herself for a first world-title campaign, her teammate Kate Ziegler, another rookie, slipped almost unnoticed into the final of the 1,500m free on 16:26.75. Ziegler watched the 200m medley final later that day, saw Hoff sizzle to a 2:10.41 victory over a 2:11.13 for Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) and went to bed believing that anything was possible. The next evening, out in lane 1, she stunned her rivals with an opening 100m split of 1:00.96 and never looked back, leading by some 5sec at 800m and collecting her first world crown in 16:00.41. By the end of the week, hoff had added the 400m IM crown, again ahead of Coventry (see entry 42, below) and Ziegler the 800m crown, while Hoff claimed a third gold as a member of the US 4x200m quartet. Two years on, both Hoff, coached by Paul Yetter, and Ziegler, coached by Ray Benecki, would retain both their solo crowns but Olympic year 2008 saw them take different and more trying diversions along their career paths in the race pool.

47. July 25: Hansen hits back. After setting world breaststroke records at US Olympic trials in 2004 only to be frustrated in Athens by Japan's rising star, Kosuke Kitajima, who took two golds in world-record times, Brendan Hansen returned home to coach Eddie Reese's Texas Longhorns programme determined to prove himself all over again. As the Olympic champion sat back (even failing over 200m to make the grade for Japan at domestic trials), Hansen stood up, and on this day at the world championships in Montreal dealt Kitajima a hammer blow that sent the Olympic champ reeling and prompted coach Norimasa Hirai to cal his charge "a lazy boy". In the 100m breaststroke semis the day before Kitajima emerged beaming from a 1:00.05 blast that confined Hansen to lane five in the final, on 1:00.13. In the final, Kitajima decided to sit on Hansen's shoulder on the way out, safe in the knowledge that a year earlier than he had turned 0.04sec behind the American before racing 0.21sec quicker than his rival on the way home to gold. But Montreal was another race, another year and after turning first by 0.12sec, Hansen held firm and Kitajima was unable to find the fire of 2004. The result: 59.80 to 59.96 in Hansen's favour. Four days later, the American clocked 2:09.85 to add the 200m title to his tally and two days further odd claimed a third gold medal as a member of the US medley quartet to conclude a cracking week in Canada. A footnote to the Montreal breaststroke events: the 50m crown was won by 35-year-old German doctor Mark Warnecke (now German team doctor), his age making him the oldest world swimming champion in history.

46. July 26: Jones turns around. Often pointed to between 2001 and 2004 as the girl who could not quite get the gold she promised come the big moment, Leisel Jones left mentor Ken Wood for Swiss coach Stephan Widmer in the wake of silver and bronze medals over 200m and 100m breaststroke, respectively, at Athens 2004. In truth, she needed as much of a life change as a change in the pool. Widmer advised her, beyond his guidance in the pool, to lead a balanced life and further her education, find the loves of her life and allow her personality to flourish. Down the line, she emerged a more rounded individual more readily able to put things into perspective, cope with the ups and downs of life as a competitor and give more weight to what she was capable of than what she might not be. The transformation manifested itself at the world championships in Montreal on July 26. In the semis of the 100m the day before, Jessica Hardy (USA) had shaved 0.17sec off Jones world record to take lane four in the final in 1:06.20. Jones had learned to bide her time: she stepped up in the next semi, kept her cool and clocked 1.06.93. In the final, Hardy turned in 31.07, Jones on 31.31. But the Australian broke into her stroke looking strong and confident, no sign of the home-lap tightness that had tormented her on previous occasions. Jones drew up  just as Hardy started to tighten and several strokes later claimed her first global crown, in 1:06.25, just 0.05sec shy of the day-old world mark but 0.37sec up on Hardy. Three days later, her demons truly sent to hell, Jones shone once more with a 2:21.72 world record in the 200m final for a second gold). That was just the start of a new chapter in a career that came to world attention with a silver in Sydney 2000 for an unheralded teenager but would soon belong to a supreme athlete who came to be known as "Lethal Leisel".

45. July 26: Phelps is best at his worst. Here is a snippet from the Reuters wrap of the world championships in Montreal, which tells a tale unique in the sport of swimming, a chapter in which the main protagonist emerges from a meet as the most decorated athlete, with five golds and a silver and yet be perceived to have failed: "Michael Phelps finished the eight-day meet as the most decorated athlete with five gold medals but the jury is still out on his performance. The American had been attempting to win a record eight titles, a task made even harder by his decision to drop some of his favourite events in search of new challenges. Phelps retained his 200 metres individual medley crown and won his world freestyle title with victory in the 200 but bombed out in the heats of the 400, finished seventh in the 100 final and second behind Ian Crocker in the 100 butterfly [more on that 50.40 stunner later], blowing his chance of swimming the medley relay final." Coach Dave Salo remarked: "Michael Phelps's (relatively poor) performance was the best thing to happen to the team because it meant we really had to step up and stand up and not rely on Michael to do everything. But the guys really came through and did a great job." Reflecting the truth in that media take on events, Phelps said: "This has been a big wake-up call. What happened here I'm going to use as motivation in the coming year to get back to my best times." In fact, he did set one noteworthy best time in Montreal: on July 26, Phelps set out on a fresh path when he claimed the world 200m freestyle crown in 1:45.20 in a confident display ahead of Grant Hackett on a high (see entry 41) and 0.12sec ahead of his own previous high when finishing third behind Thorpey and Hoogie in Athens 2004. Neither of those two giants was in the race in Montreal and Phelps, coached by Bob Bowman, never got to race Thorpe again - but he did get past the Aussie's best on the clock, and did so before suits poured plastic poison into the pool.

44. July 28: Otylia and the hand of fate. Controversy reigned at the world championships in Montreal when FINA pheld the result of the 200 metres butterfly final despite video footage that appeared to show that the first of two women to race inside the world record, Poland's Otylia Jedrzejckzak, coached by Pawel Slominski, executed a freestyle pull into the wall and stopped the clock with an illegal one-hand touch. The rule dictated a two-handed simultaneous touch, which is how Australia's Jessica Schipper, coached by Ken Wood, ended her race on 2mins 05.65sec, 0.04sec behind the Pole, whose previous world record was 2:05.78. Alan Thompson, head coach to Australia, reviewed television footage of the race with Fina's technical commission, including Australian Roger Smith, and while the coach described the footage - a straight side shot at full speed and not the much clearer underwater and overhead video - as "inconclusive", Cornel Marculescu, director of Fina, pointed out: "There is no protest, no grounds for legal procedure to take place. The technical commission says that the video shows a two-handed touch. The decision stands." The footage of the underwater finish was placed on the Dutch swim website www.zwemkroniek.com and showed Jedrzejckzak pull with her right hand and touch the electronic pad with her left. The film also showed the lane judge watching the infringement take place. There was no suggestion that the Pole had intended to cheat and the Olympic champion herself said that she had no recollection of doing anything abnormal at the end of the race. There were renewed calls for a rule change to allow full video footage to be used to settle disputes, an argument that had raged since 2001, when Britain's 4x200m freestyle quartet won the world title after the US was disqualified for a faulty takeover (and Australia for leaping in to celebrate victory while the race was still underway). A faulty time pad was blamed and video showed US takeovers to be clean. Though honorary gold medals were later awarded to the US, Britain remained sole champions. Video evidence would accepted and a back-up camera system put in place at major events from 2008. The Montreal controversy paled by comparison to events that were to unfold on October 1: Jedrzejczak was badly injured in a car crash in Warsaw that claimed the life of her brother. The swimmer was driving them to her sibling's 18th birthday celebrations. She was later charged with reckless driving and served community service. The whole episode was, naturally, devastating for one of Poland's household names but a strong Catholic faith helped the Olympic champion to get back to best form in water within a year. In December 2004, Jedrzejczak auctioned off her Olympic gold medal for $86,000, donating the funds to a children's leukemia hospital in Warsaw. 

43. July 30: Coventry backs up. What a week it was for the woman of the 2005 world championships, Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), coached by Kim Brackin. After claiming historic medals - one of each colour - at the 2004 Olympic Games, Coventry arrived in Montreal with a shot at four titles. She nailed two, over 100m and 200m backstroke, and took silver medals behind Katie Hoff (USA) in both medley finals. Coventry saved her best until last: in 2:08.52 she added the world 200m crown to her Olympic title, the time the fastest in the world that year in an event that boasted just one woman to have ever managed to crack 2:07 and 2:08: legendary Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN). Coventry's efforts made her woman of the meet and won her the top female trophy. The US-based 21-year-old celebrated with a family holiday, saying: "I'm excited about my races here. I have good results and I have fun. Now, I just want to go home to stay with my family." The man of the meet is our next entry.

42. July 31: Hackett on a high roll. Little wonder that Grant Hackett was awarded the male of the meet trophy at the 2005 world championships in Montreal. On this day, the distance king become the first swimmer in history to win the same event at four consecutive World Championships, winning his signature 1,500m free in 14:42.58 at the helm of a mirror image of the 2004 Olympic podium, silver going to Larsen Jensen (USA) and bronze to David Davies (GBR). That effort of Hackett's capped an astonishing week for a 25-year-old who finally emerged from the shadow of Ian Thorpe, not only because his former teammate was absent but because he cracked Thorpe's 800m freestule world record from 2001 with a 7:38.65 warm-up for an historic 30-lapper. Hackett stated the week with victory in the 400m, took silver behind Michael Phelps in the 200m and bronze as a member of the Australian 4x200m quartet. At that moment the most decorated man in world championship history, with 17 medals, 10 of them gold (at the time Phelps had 13, 10 of those gold, among which were six solo efforts, while Thorpe had 13 medals, of which 11 were gold, including 6 solo efforts), Hackett said: "People talk about creating a bit of history and it's certainly an honour. It's one of those career moments or meets that you savour. I'll be trying to emulate this in future meets." Hackett, coached by Denis Cotterell, was the first official male captain for the Australian team. In that role he said: "It is one-for-all, all-for one. It has to be like that, we all understand it and we all benefit from it. Some people say a swimmer goes to his blocks alone but that's only partly true. I go knowing that I have my entire team with me. I carry them in my heart and my heart leaps out of my chest."

41. November 18: A Case of Cash for Competitors. On this day, Ryk Neethling, of South Africa, revealed that his teammate Roland Schoeman was giving serious consideration to a lucrative offer to race for Qatar. The figure is said to be $1m. Neethling told reporters at the Skins event in Sydney, Australia, that Qatar's national coach, Otto Sonnleitner, an Australian, was aware of the bid for Schoeman to switch camps. "I'm very concerned," said Neethling. "He's a friend of mine, he's a teammate. We achieved something in Athens that no one in the world thought we could do. It's concerning, not just for South Africa, but for world swimming if people are going to change countries at a whim when people start throwing money at them. I don't blame Roland for it, because it is a lot of money. But I don't necessarily like what Qatar is doing." On December 1, Duje Draganja, the Olympic silver medallist over 50m freestyle, stated that he would race for Qatar the following year, the 24-year-old having accepted an offer, reported to have been $1m, after his homeland failed to beat the bid from the Arab country. "I have accepted Qatar's offer and from next year, they will be my sponsors," Draganja told an agency reporter from Berkley, California, where he studied and trained. "Reaching the sports goals I desire require big funds. Attempts to find sponsors in Croatia have failed." Some in Croatia blasted Draganja's move as "treason". The swimmer hit back, saying: "(I am) not giving up my Croatian passport, my homeland and my (Roman Catholic) religion ... it would be impossible." On December 2, SwimNews reported that swimming's rules might be tightened to prevent a cash-for-medals culture developing in the sport. Cornel Marculsecu, executive director of Fina, said that the issue would be high on the agenda at its next FINA Congress meeting in Shanghai next April, the first chance for the body to vote on rule changes. "This is like a mould taking shape, a new fashion," he said. "For sure we will take a look at the rulebook. We need to keep some sense in our sport. It is one thing to change country in the case of human rights but this is something else." He predicted that swimming would fall in line with the Olympic charter's three-year rule, as athletics did last year. Before the Olympic Games in Athens 2004, IOC president Jacques Rogge said: "What we don't like is athletes being lured by large incentives by other countries - giving them a passport when they arrive at the airport." On December 15, Qatar was reported to be targetting Lithuanian swimmer Rolandas Gimbutis with an offer worth US$10,000 a month. The storm abated a little on February 10 the following year, when Draganja announced at the Croatian national championships in Dubrovnik that he would not, after all, take up Qatar's offer In a statement, he said: "Croatia would never abandon me and I have not got a clear conscience. As time passed, I understood that I was not happy and I thank God that I changed my mind in time. I recognised at some point that it was stupid, and looking deep into myself I realised that money was not going to make me happy." FINA subsequently tightened its GR2 rules, writing in laws governing proof of residence and proof of jurisdiction.

The Top 100:

Part I: 91 - 100, the year 2000.

Part II: 81 - 90, the year 2001.

Part III: 71 - 80, the year 2002.

Part IV: 61 - 70, the year 2003.

Part V: 51 - 60, the year 2004.