It was a close-run thing but Sportal's writers have ranked Stephanie Rice as Australia's sporting No.1 for 2008, just ahead of Hawthorn's stunning AFL premiership and legendary trainer Bart Cummings' incredible 12th Melbourne Cup win.
Already a household name in Australia for both her exploits in the pool and also those outside it - as one half of what was then one of the country's most popular sporting couples and also for some of her other after-dark adventures - Rice stood tall in Beijing.
The 20-year-old may have split up with fellow swimmer Eamon Sullivan on the eve of the Games, soon after the pair had spearheaded an underwear advertising campaign for Bonds, but that didn't distract her from the task at hand in China.
Already a world record-holder after lowering the previous marks in both the 200m and 400m individual medleys at the Australian selection trials, Rice showed those efforts were no fluke when she hit the Water Cube.
Rice grabbed Australia's first gold medal of the Games when she won the 400m individual medley in world-record time, and then backed up to add the 200m equivalent to her haul, also again in world-record time.
She then chimed in with a third gold in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay, leading off before being followed by Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer and Linda McKenzie, with the quartet smashing the old world record by more than five-and-a-half seconds.
Rice also caused a stir later in the Games by being photographed getting friendly with fellow star Michael Phelps, and since returning home she has been lauded as Australia's Swimmer of the Year and also Swimming World Magazine's Female World Swimmer of the Year.
While not quite rated as highly from an Australian perspective as the efforts of Rice, Hawthorn's unexpected surge over the top of the highly-fancied Geelong on the last Saturday of September was nonetheless recognised.
After opening the year with nine wins in a row and 13 from their first 15 games, the Hawks hit a minor roadblock with successive defeats to the Saints - by five goals after they'd led by about the same margin - and the Cats.
But while the loss to Geelong had been by only 11 points, and Hawthorn had steamrolled the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda in their two finals - with star forward Lance 'Buddy' Franklin on fire after his 100-goal season - few gave Alistair Clarkson's men much hope.
But after a tight opening quarter the Cats would later come to lament their failure to capitalise on their opportunities in the second, going to the long break trailing by three points despite having had seven more scoring shots, including 1.9 in that term.
The first half of the third quarter remained tight but as Geelong continued to fritter away its chances Hawthorn surged clear with six goals to just three to lead by 17 points at the last change and ran out a comfortable 26-point winner.
Not since Adelaide punished North Melbourne's wastefulness in front of goal a decade earlier had there been such an unexpected result in an AFL decider, and Hawks players and fans alike have celebrated long and hard since the end of their 17-year drought.
Wily master trainer Cummings may have been doing his thing for more than 50 years, and is on the wrong side of 80, but he showed on