He lost his opening match to Spain's León Villar, who successfully scored an ippon and duly wrapped him on the tatami with a side-quarter hold (yoko shiho gatame) at three minutes and fourteen seconds.

[4] At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Bayu crashed out early again in his opening match of the men's 90-kg division to Brazil's Carlos Honorato by an ippon and a vertical four-quarter hold (tate shiho gatame) with only fourteen seconds remaining.

[5] While his Brazilian opponent moving forward to the semifinal, Bayu gave himself a chance for the nation's first ever Olympic judo medal through the repechage, but saw it slipping away in his first playoff defeat to another Spaniard Fernando González, who subdued him on the mat in a corner reversal throw (sumi gaeshi) two minutes and twenty-one seconds into the match.

[6][7] The following year, Bayu reached the pinnacle of his sporting career upon capturing the gold medal in the 100-kg division at the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

[10][11] Bayu was also initially selected by the Indonesian Olympic Committee to supposedly carry the nation's flag in the opening ceremony, but decided to hand over his role to badminton coach Christian Hadinata.