Ryan's Olympic debut came as part of the host nation team in pistol shooting when Australia hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. There, she finished in a three-way tie with U.S. shooter Christina Cassidy and Georgia's Nino Uchadze for twenty-eighth place in the qualifying round of the women's air pistol, shooting a total of 375 points. Ryan had also eluded from her dramatic air pistol aim to fire a much brilliant 579 (290 in precision and 289 in the rapid fire) for an eleventh-place tie with three other shooters, including 1988 Olympic champion Nino Salukvadze of Georgia in the sport pistol, but her qualifying score was not good enough for her to surpass the final cutoff by two points.
