Tatiana retires a happy hunter
It was September 25, 2000, and while Australia had eyes only for Cathy Freeman, Grigorieva had eyes only for the pole vault runway and the high bar.
That is, except for 10 seconds, when she too became entranced by Freeman's run to 400m gold.
"I experienced that night from the inside," Grigorieva recalled yesterday.
"I remember watching Cathy come around the final bend. She wasn't leading and I remember thinking, 'Cathy you need to work hard now, put it together now, not a second later'."
It was the only moment over several hours of intense competition when Grigorieva's focus shifted.
"The only thing that existed for me was my run-up, and the bar, and my coach who was helping me from the stands. I couldn't see or hear anything else."
She went into the event virtually unknown in Australia but emerged with a silver medal and fame and fortune that rivalled Freeman's.
It took a personal best leap of 4.55 metres, and every bit of the mental muscle that was her greatest sporting asset.
While her glamourous looks skyrocketed her to stardom in the post-Olympic celebrity stakes, it was her tough competitive instinct that was the foundation of her success.
Beauty ... Grigorieva's glamorous looks brought her fame outside her sport. Pic: Steve Morenos
The tattoo on her toned stomach, of a rose surrounded by thorns, symbolised her nature.
"Sydney was absolutely the highlight of my career. It was the competition that changed my life," Grigorieva, 31, said yesterday.
"You work for years for that moment, and every jump has to be perfect, a mistake can cost you too much.
"I can say I made no mistakes on that night in Sydney, not from a technical point of view, or in my psychological and emotional preparation. In the lead-up to the competition I was able to handle it very well. I would give myself 10 out of 10."
Grigorieva never reached such heights again, but she retired yesterday content with her achievements.
She has a collection of medals any athlete would be proud of: an Olympic silver medal, a bronze medal from the 1999 world championships, and Commonwealth Games gold in 2002 and silver in 2006.
While her form and fortune wavered in the years since her Olympic success - she failed to make the 2003 Australia world championship team and the 2004 Australia Olympic team - Grigorieva didn't give up and has left the sport after her best European season.
"My main power is that I have always stayed positive in any situation," she said.
That kept her vaulting even after the trauma of her divorce from fellow pole vaulter Viktor Chistiakov.
While he left the sport, she persisted and went on to finish 2006 ranked in the top 10 in the world and finally surpassed the personal best of 4.56 metres she had set in 2001.
In her last two competitions, in Japan and Korea last September, she jumped 4.57 metres and then 4.58 metres.
It leaves her third on the Australian all-time list behind Kym Howe (4.62 metres) and Emma George (4.60 metres), but number one in terms of performances at major championships.
"I am happy to leave at this point. I've proved a lot of things to myself and other people in the past 12 months," Grigorieva said.
"There was a time when people said I shouldn't jump any more, when they said I was too old, but I didn't feel this way.
"I wanted to prove the only way for an athlete to go is not when other people say they have nothing left but when I am ready.
"This time has come, and I feel very comfortable with this decision. During my sporting career I had the highs and I have hit the absolute lows as well. I have been fortunate because I've experienced everything sport had to offer. But finishing on the highs, that is a good way to go."