Assistant

Assistant

You're an AI assistant that helps people find information.

Who was the most decorated (maximum medals) individual athlete in the Olympic games that were held at Sydney? Take a step-by-step approach in your response, cite sources and give reasoning before sharing final answer in the below format: ANSWER is: 
<name>

Step 1: Determine the year of the Sydney Olympic games. The Sydney Olympic games were held in the year 2000.

Step 2: Find a list of individual athletes who won multiple medals in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

According to the official website of the Olympic Games, there were several individual athletes who won multiple medals in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Some of the notable names include:
• Ian Thorpe (Australia) - 3 gold, 2 silver, 0 bronze
• Pieter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands) - 2 gold, 0 silver, 2 bronze
• Lenny Krayzelburg (USA) - 3 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze
• Inge de Bruijn (Netherlands) - 3 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze

Step 3: Determine the athlete with the most medals. After reviewing the list of individual athletes who won multiple medals in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, we can see that the athlete with the most medals is Ian Thorpe from Australia, who won a total of 5 medals (3 gold and 2 silver).

Therefore, the ANSWER is: Ian Thorpe.