Australia at the Olympics

Australia at the
Olympics
Australia at the; Olympics
Medals; Ranked 14th	Gold 170 Silver 180 Bronze 216 Total 566
Summer appearances
	1912; 1920; 1924; 1928; 1932; 1936; 1948; 1952; 1956; 1960; 1964; 1968; 1972; 1976; 1980; 1984; 1988; 1992; 1996; 2000; 2004; 2008; 2012; 2016; 2020; 2024;
Winter appearances
	1936; 1948; 1952; 1956; 1960; 1964; 1968; 1972; 1976; 1980; 1984; 1988; 1992; 1994; 1998; 2002; 2006; 2010; 2014; 2018; 2022;
Other related appearances
	1906 Intercalated Games; –––– Australasia (1908–1912)

London 2012 opening ceremony.^[1]

Australia has sent athletes to all editions of the modern Olympic Games. Australia has competed in every Summer Olympic Games, as well as every Winter Olympics except 1924–32 and 1948. In 1908 and 1912 Australia competed with New Zealand under the name Australasia.

History

The Australian Olympic Committee was founded and recognised in 1895. Edwin Flack was the first athlete to represent Australia at the Olympics. He won gold in both the 800 metres and the 1500 metres, competed in the marathon and won a bronze medal in tennis doubles at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Australia's kit is green and gold.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Australia is the first country in history in the Southern Hemisphere to host the games.They hosted the Summer Olympic games twice: in 1956 in Melbourne and in 2000 in Sydney. Australia finished 3rd and 4th in the respective medal counts. The country is due to host the Summer Olympics a third time in 2032 in Brisbane. In the Summer Olympics since 2000, Australia has placed 4th, 4th, 6th, 8th*, 10th and 6th respectively. (*Australia initially finished in 10th position in 2012, but 8th position after the redistributed gold medal to Jared Tallent). Given Australia has a population of only around 23 million people (ranked 53rd in the world^[5]), this fact is frequently cited as noteworthy, and is ostensibly due to a strong sporting culture.^[6] Other observers have suggested this may also be a result of the generous funding the Australian Government has invested into elite sports development with the specific intention of improving performance at the Olympic games.^[7]^[8] Prior to Montreal, there was no government funding, however.

Many of Australia's gold medals have come in swimming, a sport which is popular in Australia, with swimmers from Dawn Fraser to Emma McKeon ranking among the sport's all-time greats. Other sports where Australia has historically been strong include:

field hockey, with the women's team winning three gold medals between 1988 and 2000 and the men's team winning in 2004;
cycling, particularly track cycling;
rowing;
equestrian events and specifically the three-day team's eventing;
and sailing.

Australia takes international sporting competition, particularly the Olympics, very seriously, and provides much government funding and coaching support to elite athletes, partly through the Australian Institute of Sport. Australia has been more modestly successful in the track events at the games, particularly in modern times. Historically, Betty Cuthbert is Australia's most successful track athlete with four gold medals (three in 1956 and one in 1964).

Australia did not win a medal at the Winter Olympics until 1994, but has moved higher on the medal tallies since then (ranking 13th at Vancouver 2010). This is a reflection on increased funding of Australia's Olympic Winter Games team.^{[citation needed]}

Olympic bids and hosted Games

Hosted Games

Australia has hosted the Olympic Games twice and will host again in 2032:

Games	Host city	Dates	Nations	Participants	Events
1956 Summer Olympics	Victoria	22 November–8 December	72	3,314	151
2000 Summer Olympics	Sydney, New South Wales	15 September–1 October	199	10,651	300
2032 Summer Olympics	Brisbane, Queensland	23 July–8 August	TBD	TBD	TBD

Unsuccessful bids

Australia has unsuccessfully bid for the Games on three other occasions:

Games	Proposed host city	Awarded to
1988 Summer Olympics	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	Seoul, South Korea
1992 Summer Olympics	Brisbane, Queensland	Barcelona, Spain
1996 Summer Olympics	Victoria	Atlanta, United States

Overview of Olympic participation

Timeline of participation

Date	Team
1900–1904	Australia (AUS)
1908–1912	Australasia (ANZ)
1920–	Australia (AUS)	New Zealand (NZL)

Australia at the Summer Olympics

Host country

Games	Athletes	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank
1896 Athens	1	2	0	0	2	8
1900 Paris	3	2	0	3	5	9
1904 St. Louis	3	0	3	1	4	11
1908 London	as part of Australasia (ANZ)
1912 Stockholm	as part of Australasia (ANZ)
1920 Antwerp	13	0	2	1	3	16
1924 Paris	37	3	1	2	6	11
1928 Amsterdam	18	1	2	1	4	19
1932 Los Angeles	12	3	1	1	5	10
1936 Berlin	33	0	0	1	1	30
1948 London	77	2	6	5	13	14
1952 Helsinki	81	6	2	3	11	9
1956 Melbourne	314	13	8	14	35	3
1960 Rome	188	8	8	6	22	5
1964 Tokyo	234	6	2	10	18	8
1968 Mexico City	175	5	7	5	17	9
1972 Munich	173	8	7	2	17	6
1976 Montreal	184	0	1	4	5	32
1980 Moscow	123	2	2	5	9	15
1984 Los Angeles	240	4	8	12	24	14
1988 Seoul	270	3	6	5	14	15
1992 Barcelona	290	7	9	11	27	10
1996 Atlanta	424	9	9	23	41	7
2000 Sydney	630	16	25	17	58	4
2004 Athens	482	17	16	17	50	4
2008 Beijing	433	14	15	17	46	6
2012 London	410	8	15	12	35	8
2016 Rio de Janeiro	422	8	11	10	29	10
2020 Tokyo	470	17	7	22	46	6
2024 Paris	future event
2028 Los Angeles	future event
2032 Brisbane	future event
Total		164	173	210	547	10

Australia at the Winter Olympics

Games	Athletes	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank
1924 Chamonix	did not participate
1928 St. Moritz
1932 Lake Placid
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen	1	0	0	0	0	–
1948 St. Moritz	did not participate
1952 Oslo	9	0	0	0	0	–
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo	8	0	0	0	0	–
1960 Squaw Valley	31	0	0	0	0	–
1964 Innsbruck	6	0	0	0	0	–
1968 Grenoble	3	0	0	0	0	–
1972 Sapporo	4	0	0	0	0	–
1976 Innsbruck	8	0	0	0	0	–
1980 Lake Placid	10	0	0	0	0	–
1984 Sarajevo	10	0	0	0	0	–
1988 Calgary	18	0	0	0	0	–
1992 Albertville	23	0	0	0	0	–
1994 Lillehammer	25	0	0	1	1	22
1998 Nagano	24	0	0	1	1	22
2002 Salt Lake City	27	2	0	0	2	15
2006 Turin	40	1	0	1	2	17
2010 Vancouver	40	2	1	0	3	13
2014 Sochi	60	0	2	1	3	24
2018 Pyeongchang	51	0	2	1	3	23
2022 Beijing	43	1	2	1	4	18
2026 Milan–Cortina	future event
Total		6	7	6	19	26

Medals by summer sport

Leading in that sport


Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Surfing	0	0	1	1
Totals (29 entries)	164	173	210	547

Medals by winter sport


Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Alpine skiing	0	0	1	1
Totals (5 entries)	6	7	6	19

These totals do not include 11 medals recognised by the Australian Olympic Committee: 10 medals (3 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze) won by Australians competing for the combined Australasia team in 1908 and 1912 (8 by individuals, 1 by an exclusively Australian team and 1 by a combined team) and 1 bronze medal won in tennis by Edwin Flack in 1896. The AOC therefore recognises Australia as having won 558 medals at the Summer Olympics (167 gold, 177 silver and 214 bronze).^[9]

Medals by individual

According to official data of the International Olympic Committee. This is a list of people who have won three or more Olympic gold medals for Australia. Medals won in the 1906 Intercalated Games are not included. It includes top-three placings in 1896 and 1900, before medals were awarded for top-three placings.

Athlete	Sport	Years	Games	Gender				Total
Ian Thorpe	Swimming	2000–2004	Summer	M	5	3	1	9
Emma McKeon	Swimming	2016–2020	Summer	F	5	2	4	11
Dawn Fraser	Swimming	1956–1964	Summer	F	4	4	0	8
Cate Campbell	Swimming	2008–2020	Summer	F	4	1	3	8
Libby Trickett	Swimming	2004–2012	Summer	F	4	1	2	7
Murray Rose	Swimming	1956–1960	Summer	M	4	1	1	6
Betty Cuthbert	Athletics	1956–1964	Summer	F	4	0	0	4
Leisel Jones	Swimming	2000–2012	Summer	F	3	5	1	9
Petria Thomas	Swimming	1996–2004	Summer	F	3	4	1	8
Grant Hackett	Swimming	2000–2008	Summer	M	3	3	1	7
Emily Seebohm	Swimming	2008–2020	Summer	F	3	3	1	7
Andrew Hoy	Equestrian	1992–2020	Summer	M	3	2	1	6
Shirley Strickland	Athletics	1948–1956	Summer	F	3	1	3	7
Shane Gould	Swimming	1972	Summer	F	3	1	1	5
Drew Ginn	Rowing	1996–2012	Summer	M	3	1	0	4
James Tomkins	Rowing	1992–2004	Summer	M	3	0	1	4
Kaylee McKeown	Swimming	2020	Summer	F	3	0	1	4
Matthew Ryan	Equestrian	1992–2000	Summer	M	3	0	0	3
Rechelle Hawkes	Field Hockey	1988–2000	Summer	F	3	0	0	3
Jodie Henry	Swimming	2004	Summer	F	3	0	0	3
Stephanie Rice	Swimming	2008–2012	Summer	F	3	0	0	3

People in bold are still active competitors

2020 Olympics

.

Summary by sport

Aquatics

Swimming

Australia first competed in swimming at the 1900 Games, with Freddie Lane competing in two events and winning gold medals in both. The sport would become a strength of the nation, which (as of the 2020 Games) has the second-most gold and second-most total medals behind the United States.

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	69	70	74	213

Athletics

Australia first competed in athletics at the inaugural 1896 Games, with 1 athlete (Edwin Flack) competing in 3 events and winning two of them.

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	21	27	28	76^[10]

Canoeing

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	5	8	14	27

Cycling

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	15	19	20	54

Football

Australia first qualified for Olympic football in the 1956 games in Melbourne as hosts.

Rowing

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	13	15	16	44

Sailing

Games	Sailors	Events	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Ranking
1896	Scheduled but event wasn't held
1900	0	0/13	0	0	0	0
1908	0	0/4	0	0	0	0
1912	0	0/4	0	0	0	0
1920	0	0/14	0	0	0	0
1924	0	0/3	0	0	0	0
1928	0	0/3	0	0	0	0
1932	1	1/4	0	0	0	0
1936	0	0/4	0	0	0	0
1948	3	2/5	0	0	0	0
1952	6	3/5	0	0	0	0
1956	11	5/5	0	1	1	2	6
1960	11	5/5	0	0	0	0
1964	11	5/5	1	0	0	1	3
1968	11	5/5	0	0	0	0
1972	13	6/6	2	0	0	2	1
1976	12	6/6	0	0	2	2	9
1980	0	0/6	0	0	0	0
1984	13	7/7	0	0	1	1	8
1988	13	7/8	0	0	0	0
1992	13	8/10	0	0	2	2	8
1996	16	10/10	0	1	1	2	10
2000	18	11/11	2	1	1	4	2
2004	18	11/11	0	0	0	0
2008	17	10/11	2	1	0	3	2
2012	13	8/10	3	1	0	4	1
2016	11	7/10	1	3	0	4	3
2020	13	8/10	2	0	0	2	2
Total			13	8	8	29	6

Tennis

Australia first competed in tennis at the inaugural 1896 Games, with one player competing in men's singles and, as part of a mixed team, in men's doubles. Edwin Flack lost in the first round of the singles, but paired with George S. Robertson to earn bronze in the doubles. The mixed team medal is not credit to Australia. The only tennis gold medal won by Australia was by the Woodies in men's doubles in 1996; the pair also won Australia's only silver medal in the sport four years later.

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	1	1	4	6^[11]

Notes

References

^ 2012 Australian uniform
^ Australian National Colours: green and gold Retrieved 23 August 2012
^ Golden Wattle Retrieved 23 August 2012
^ Our national symbols Retrieved 23 August 2012
^ "CIA – The World Factbook". Archived from the original on 2019-01-06. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
^ O, Noel (8 August 2012). "By population, Australia is on top of the medal tally". The Roar. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
^ Olympic Games | Crawford Report | Sports Funding | Richard Evans
^ "www.nationalpost.com/scripts/feeds/story.html?id=2210902". Retrieved January 8, 2010.^{[dead link]}
^ "St Louis 1904".
^ Does not include a gold medal for the 5000 metres team race, in which an Australian runner competed with runners from Great Britain.
^ Does not include a bronze medal won in 1896 by a mixed team with an Australian player.

External links

"Australia". International Olympic Committee. 27 July 2021.
"Australia". Olympedia.com.
"Olympic Analytics/AUS". olympanalyt.com.
Australia NOC

[1] 2012 Australian uniform

[2] Australian National Colours: green and gold Retrieved 23 August 2012

[3] Golden Wattle Retrieved 23 August 2012

[4] Our national symbols Retrieved 23 August 2012

[5] "CIA – The World Factbook". Archived from the original on 2019-01-06. Retrieved 2010-01-08.

[6] O, Noel (8 August 2012). "By population, Australia is on top of the medal tally". The Roar. Retrieved 20 April 2014.

[7] Olympic Games | Crawford Report | Sports Funding | Richard Evans

[8] "www.nationalpost.com/scripts/feeds/story.html?id=2210902". Retrieved January 8, 2010.^{[dead link]}

[9] "St Louis 1904".

[ZZX1900-10] Does not include a gold medal for the 5000 metres team race, in which an Australian runner competed with runners from Great Britain.

[ZZX1896-11] Does not include a bronze medal won in 1896 by a mixed team with an Australian player.

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