The recently concluded Olympic Games featured more than athletic accomplishments, drug scandals, and the usual nationalistic rah-rah featured so predominantly in the mainstream media.

The recently concluded Olympic Games featured more than athletic accomplishments, drug scandals, and the usual nationalistic rah-rah featured so predominantly in the mainstream media. There was the effort by Australia to make peace with its aboriginal constituents. There was the unified entrance of North and South Korea under a special flag to mark their efforts toward achieving a peaceful coexistence. There were the representatives of East Timor, able to participate independent of Indonesia. There was Bosnia-Herzogovina's inclusion of athletes from all three major religions and ethnic groups; previously, only Serbs were allowed to compete.

And then there were the women. The 2000 Olympic Games celebrated women's advancements entering the new millennium--in fact, it was featured as the theme of the games. Host Australia's orchestrated opening ceremonies honored its past Olympic champion women, reserving for them the privilege of lighting the Olympic cauldron. For the first time in the 104 years since the birth of the modern games, a female athlete from an Arab Gulf nation represented her country--Bahrain. In fact, women comprised 40 percent of the thousands of athletes who took part.