Australia, the second most successful swimming nation, will look to extend its dominance in the sport while also winning medals in other disciplines.
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An ever-present in Olympics, Australia has been one of the teams to watch in the Summer Games since its inception. They have been a consistent performer at the Olympics, with swimmers providing the majority of their medals. The country sits at the 11th spot in the overall ranking with 497 medals to their name. Although the Aussies have won more medals than Hungary, East Germany, and Russia, they are sitting behind these three countries due to their inferior gold medal count. Australia has 147 gold medals, whereas Russia has 149, East Germany’s tally stands at 153 and Hungary is quite ahead with 175 gold medals. The Aussies will be eager to produce a good showing in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics to climb up the medal ladder.
Australia won a respectable eight gold medals at Rio 2016, equalling its total from London four years earlier. However, the total medal tally took a dip in the Brazilian city. The Aussies had bagged 35 in 2012 but could only manage 29 in 2016. As a result, they managed a tenth place finish in Rio and will be keen to improve on that performance in Tokyo. The country made its first Olympic appearance in 1896 and hosted the Games in 1956 in Melbourne and in 2000 in Sydney. Australia has competed in every Summer Olympic Games to date. In 1908 and 1912, Australia competed with New Zealand under the name Australasia.
Edwin Flack was the first athlete to represent the country in the 1896 Summer Games. He straight away created history, winning gold in both the 800 metres and the 1500 metres. Besides, he also competed in the marathon and incredibly won a bronze medal in tennis doubles at the 1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Since then the country has been a force to reckon with in the Games. Australia has hosted the Games twice – 1956 in Melbourne and 2000 in Sydney. The Aussies finished 3rd and 4th in the respective medal counts.
The 1956 Games has been their best in terms of ranking till now. Back then they won 35 medals in total, with 13 coming from gold, eight silver and 14 bronze medals. Meanwhile, the Sydney Games in 2000 has been their most productive in terms of the medal count. In their second Olympics at home, the Aussies won an impressive 58 medals. 16 of those were from gold, while silver and bronze accounted for 25 and 17 respectively. Their impressive showing at home saw the country finish fourth.
Four years later in Athens, Greece, the Aussies produced another memorable showing. They reached 50 medals and improved on their gold medal count, winning one more than the Sydney Games to get 17 medals. The country retained the fourth spot in the overall rankings at the end of the Games. In terms of gold count, Athens has been their best yet. But their rankings and medal tally started to drop after those two Olympics. They could only manage eight (2012) and tenth (2016) positions in the last two Games. The Aussies will be eager to once again finish in the top five rankings going into the Tokyo Games.
They had their most success in swimming, while athletics, track cycling, rowing, and sailing are other sports where the country has enjoyed a good run in their Olympic history. Australia has won an impressive 192 medals in swimming to date, with 60 of those coming in the gold medal category. Only United States is ahead of them in the Olympic swimming tally with a staggering 549 overall medals to their name.
Ian Thorpe, a swimmer, is the only Australian athlete to have won five gold medals. As a 17-year-old, he won three gold medals and two silver medals at the 2000 Games in Sydney. Thorpe added two gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal to his total medal haul four years later in Athens, bringing his overall Olympic medal tally to nine. Female swimmer Leisel Jones also has nine Olympic medals. In the period between 2000 and 2012, she clinched a total of three gold medals, five silver medals and one bronze medal.
Australians enjoyed a memorable moment in athletics at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where Cathy Freeman claimed gold in the women’s 400m in front of a whopping 112,000 spectators. The country’s most successful competitor in athletics, however, is Shirley Strickland, who won a total of seven medals – three gold, one silver, three bronze – in sprint events and hurdles between 1948 and 1956. In athletics, Australians have won 73 medals, with 21 coming from gold.
Cycling is another sport, which has been productive in the medal count for the Aussies, having won 51 medals, including 14 gold medals. The country’s most successful track cyclist is Anna Meares, who won gold in the women’s 500m time trial at the 2004 Games in Athens and triumphing in the sprint eight years later in London. She also won one silver medal and three bronze medals over the course of her Olympic career. In team sports, the men’s and women’s hockey teams have a combined total of 12 medals. The women have won three gold medals (1988, 1996, and 2000), while the men have only won once in 2004.
