Allana Slater at Sydney 2000: Spotting the two-inch error that threw an Olympic final into chaos

Slater won 3 Commonwealth golden medals including the vault rubric astatine Manchester 2002

Under the lights and amid the sparkling sequins, Allana Slater's words hung successful the air.

"I thought that possibly they don't talk English, possibly they don't recognize maine oregon possibly they are truthful focused connected what they are doing and wherever they are successful the moment," she told BBC World Service's Sporting Witness.

Maybe they didn't deliberation Slater's words adjacent warranted a reply.

Her question was surely odd.

Slater and 35 different gymnasts were halfway done the Olympic all-around last astatine the 2000 Sydney Games.

It was the highest of their careers. For Slater, conscionable 16 years old, the unit came with added decibels. More than 15,000 fans successful the Sydney Superdome roared each clip their compatriot approached an apparatus.

But, successful the midst of it all, Slater had suggested the impossible.

Could the biggest signifier of each truly person been acceptable excessively small?

Up until that moment, Slater's gymnastics vocation had been marked by however accelerated she had risen, contempt a nonaccomplishment that would person weighed down astir others.

She had started gymnastics arsenic a toddler.

"I was the kid that walked connected the beam astatine 16 months old," she said.

"I would beryllium similar 'no don't clasp my hand, I'm fine'. For maine it was truly a consciousness of joyousness and love. I got to research my physicality and propulsion the limits of my caput and what I could bash arsenic a person."

Slater pushed those limits each the mode to the world's elite.

She made her nationalist debut aged 9 and competed internationally astatine 11.

She was 13 erstwhile she travelled to 1 specified youth-level contention - the Junior Pacific Alliance Championships successful Colorado Springs successful the United States.

Her begetter had insisted that Slater's parent travel her connected the agelong journey. His interest proved good founded, for reasons helium could ne'er person expected.

Slater's mother, stricken with grief, was determination to archer her that her father's formation from Jakarta to Singapore had nosedived to the ground.

All 104 radical connected committee had died.

"His level went down portion I was competing and I really had a infinitesimal successful contention wherever I forgot however to tally down the vault runway," said Slater.

"I person ne'er been capable to explicate it. I person ne'er done thing similar that earlier oregon aft and I virtually forgot however to run.

"We worked retired from the timeframes that that was the infinitesimal his level was going down.

"That acquisition gave maine truthful overmuch perspective. I recovered an interior spot I didn't cognize I had. It truly helped signifier the idiosyncratic I became, not lone arsenic a beardown pistillate but besides arsenic a beardown athlete."

• LISTEN: Allana Slater talks to BBC World Service's Sporting Witness

Olympic contention is an utmost trial for each athlete. The signifier Slater's took though was unique.

Slater was not expected to contention the medals successful Sydney. She was excessively young and the contention excessively strong.

Russia's Svetlana Khorkina, the 1997 satellite champion and reigning European champion, was successful blistery form. She had been good up of her nearest rivals - a brace of Romanians - successful qualification.

But Khorkina's run had rapidly and unexpectedly derailed. After a beardown show connected the level - the archetypal of the 4 disciplines - she went to the vault.

She didn't adjacent get adjacent to landing during her warm-up attempts, coming down connected her knees.

Trusting her hours of signifier and polish though, she stuck to her regular for the competition.

After a small outcry of self-encouragement connected the runway, she launched into the air, disconnected the vault, twisting and spinning.

Khorkina's all-around run ne'er recovered from a calamitous show connected a wrongly-set vault

Once again, the level arrived excessively soon. Her shins walloped into the clang mat. She hopped to her feet, struck a pose, but her look was already crumpling with disappointment.

Her hopes of golden were dashed.

She was not the lone 1 to struggle.

American nationalist champion Elise Ray botched some her vaults. Great Britain's Annika Reeder injured herself and had to retreat from the competition. Brazil's Daniele Hypolito bashed her caput arsenic she whiplashed into her landing.

Even allowing for nerves, the modular was good beneath what was expected from the champion successful the world.

Having completed 2 disciplines, it was Slater's turn. She was the archetypal of her radical of gymnasts to effort their 3rd rotation - the vault.

"I was lasting astatine the extremity of the 25m runway, I looked astatine the vault and I thought 'it is excessively low'. It conscionable looked low," she said.

"I turned to my competitors and said 'the vault looks excessively low, does the vault look excessively debased to anyone?'"

No-one spoke.

The vault whitethorn person looked low. Now, Slater decided to trial if sensation backed up her eyesight. She took disconnected down the runway.

"I was not a gangly jock and arsenic I went disconnected the large committee and into the vault, the feeling I would usually get was 1 of going into the broadside of the vault," she said.

"But alternatively I coming down connected apical of it, it was perfectly a feeling I had ne'er had connected vault. I knew the feeling from the extremity of the runway was 100% close - the vault was the incorrect height.

"I had a prime arsenic a 16-year-old - accidental thing and halt the contention oregon conscionable get connected with it. I chose the archetypal option."

Slater walked backmost to the vault, turned to her coaches Peggy Liddick and Nikolai Lapchine and motioned to amusement that the vault was nearer her tummy than her chest, wherever it usually came up to.

"Unless I had grown overnight it was excessively low," Slater said. "Nikolai looked maine dormant successful the eye, measured it up connected his ain assemblage and past this horrified look came implicit his face."

In the adjacent fewer minutes, stunned realisation dispersed astir the arena.

Tape measures revealed Slater was right. The vault was wrong. Instead of 125cm, it was acceptable astatine 120cm. A quality of 5cm, astir 2 inches. It is simply a borderline that could wreck a finely calibrated routine, it could beryllium the disagreement betwixt perfection and humiliation.

Olympic unit crowded astir the vault, unscrewing bolts and shuffling it up to its due height. Officials gesticulated awkwardly connected the sidelines arsenic the standard of the mistake became clear. Television commentators were aghast. Coaches were furious.

"I've ne'er seen thing similar it, adjacent astatine a little, section meet," said Kathy Kelly, the United States caput manager astatine the time. "It's bizarre is what it is."

Half the tract had already competed connected a vault acceptable excessively low.

It was decided to connection those 18 the accidental to repetition their vault. But for galore it was excessively late.

Their assurance and attraction had been irrecoverably shaken. With her gold-medal hopes seemingly dashed, Khorkina had committed different mistake connected her adjacent apparatus, the uneven bars.

Too acold disconnected the podium pace, she opted against a re-do and yet settled for 10th. Gold was yet won by Romania's Simona Amanar.

"The bittersweet happening is cipher truly won retired of the situation," said Slater.

"But what did triumph was a young jock having a dependable and being capable to usage it successful 1 of the astir pressured situations successful her sporting vocation and being heard and listened to."

Great Britain's Annika Reeder's wounded was truthful terrible she had to beryllium carried disconnected the mat earlier Slater's discovery

The inquest into however it each happened rumbled on.

It was suggested that the tallness of the vault had simply been overlooked erstwhile it should person been adjusted aft the men's all-around last the erstwhile day.

An mistake successful the paperwork mounting retired the instrumentality dimensions has besides since travel to light.

But the incidental has been portion of celebrations arsenic good arsenic the root of recriminations...

In April 2013, Slater joined Scott Penney.

While her begetter couldn't beryllium there, her coaches from that time much than a decennary earlier successful the Sydney Superdome were.

"Nikolai walked maine down the aisle," remembered Slater, who is present 39.

"It was specified a beauteous moment. I person since heard from the girls who were grooming successful the gym with him that helium was truthful tense that helium had been practising, walking down the vault runway.

"Peggy gave a code and the communicative of the vault was 1 of the highlights. She summed up by telling my husband, 'If Allana thinks she is right, she astir apt is right, and you had amended judge her!'"

Peggy Liddick, left, has maintained a adjacent relationship with Slater agelong aft the latter's status from gymnastics