Australia at the Olympics explained

Noc:	AUS
Nocname:	Australian Olympic Committee
Games:	Olympics
Rank:	14
Gold:	188
Silver:	199
Bronze:	232
See also:	1906 Intercalated Games (1908–1912)

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

History

Australia has been represented at every Summer Olympics. New Zealander Leonard Cuff, an athletics administrator, organised with both Baron Pierre de Coubertin and head of the English Amateur Athletics Federation Charles Herbert, for Australasia to be represented at the first International Olympic Committee meetings in 1894. While it was initially thought that no Australian (or New Zealand) athlete would be able to compete at the 1896 Summer Olympics, Edwin Flack, an Australian accountant and amateur athlete working in London, was able to obtain leave and travelled to Athens, where he won Gold in the 800 and 1500 metres, representing Australia.^[1] Australia and New Zealand were represented by Australasia at the IOC until 1920, although the two nations competed as individual entities at the 1908 and 1912 games. From 1920 onwards, they competed as separate nations.^[2]

Australia became the first country in the Southern Hemisphere to host the games, hosting the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, before hosting the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Australia is due to host the Summer Olympics for the third time at the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane.^[3]

While Australia had frequently overachieved at the Summer Olympic Games, this came to a halt at the 1976 Olympic Games. After winning at least five gold medals and seventeen total medals at every Olympics since 1956, Australia won zero gold medals and only five medals in total. This was the first time Australia had not won Gold since the 1936 Summer Olympics. It caused an uproar in Australia, and the government-funded Australian Institute of Sport was subsequently founded in 1981. Since the formation of the AIS, Australia has finished with less than 20 medals only once, in 1988, and has won at least three gold medals at every Summer Olympics since, holding an average of 11 gold medals per Games.^[4] ^[5]

While Australia has focused largely on the Summer Olympics, Australia has been represented at the Winter Olympics since 1936 with Ken Kennedy the first Australian Winter Olympian and sole representative. Kennedy competed in the Speed skating in all four events, with a best finish of 29th in the 500 metres. It would take until 1952 for the next representatives, starting an unbroken attendance streak. Despite this long history, it took until the 1994 Winter Olympics to win its first medal: Bronze in the Men's 5000 metre relay. After Zali Steggall won Australia's first individual medal in the Women's Slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics, the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia was founded, leading to Australia's first Winter Olympic gold medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics with Steve Bradbury winning the Men's 1000 metres and Alisa Camplin winning the Women's aerials.^[6]

Olympic bids and hosted Games

Hosted Games

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

Dates	Nations	Participants	Events
22 November–8 December	72	3,314	151
15 September–1 October	199	10,651	300
		23 July–8 August	TBD	TBD	TBD

Unsuccessful bids

Australia has unsuccessfully bid for the Games on three other occasions:^[7]

Overview of Olympic participation

Timeline of participation

Date	Team
1896-1904
1908–1912
1920–

Australia at the Summer Olympics

Games	Athletes	width:3em; font-weight:bold;"		width:3em; font-weight:bold;"		width:3em; font-weight:bold;"	Total	Rank
		2	0	0	2	8
		2	0	3	5	9
		0	3	1	4	11
	as part of

		0	2	1	3	16
		3	1	2	6	11
		1	2	1	4	19
		3	1	1	5	10
		0	0	1	1	30
		2	6	5	13	14
		6	2	3	11	9
		13	8	14	35	3
		8	8	6	22	5
		6	2	10	18	8
		5	7	5	17	9
		8	7	2	17	6
		0	1	4	5	32
		2	2	5	9	15
		4	8	12	24	14
		3	6	5	14	15
		7	9	11	27	10
		9	9	23	41	7
		16	25	17	58	4
		17	16	17	50	4
		14	15	17	46	6
		8	15	12	35	8
		8	11	10	29	10
		17	7	22	46	6
		18	19	16	53	4
	future event
	future event
Total		182	192	226	600	4

Australia at the Winter Olympics

Games	Athletes	width:3em; font-weight:bold;"		width:3em; font-weight:bold;"		width:3em; font-weight:bold;"	Total	Rank
	did not participate


		0	0	0	0	–
	did not participate
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	0	0	–
		0	0	1	1	22
		0	0	1	1	22
		2	0	0	2	15
		1	0	1	2	17
		2	1	0	3	13
	60	0	2	1	3	24
		0	2	1	3	23
		1	2	1	4	18
	future event


Total		6	7	6	19	26

Medals by winter sport

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 611 medals at the Summer Olympics (185 gold, 196 silver and 230 bronze).^[8]

Medals by individual

In accordance with the 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	Years	Games	Gender				Total
Emma McKeon	2016–2024	Summer	F	6	3	5	14
Ian Thorpe	2000–2004	Summer	M	5	3	1	9
Kaylee McKeown	2020–2024	Summer	F	5	1	3	9
Mollie O'Callaghan	2020–2024	Summer	F	5	1	2	8
Dawn Fraser	1956–1964	Summer	F	4	4	0	8
Ariarne Titmus	2020–2024	Summer	F	4	3	1	8
Cate Campbell	2008–2020	Summer	F	4	1	3	8
Libby Trickett	2004–2012	Summer	F	4	1	2	7
Murray Rose	1956–1960	Summer	M	4	1	1	6
Betty Cuthbert	1956–1964	Summer	F	4	0	0	4
Leisel Jones	2000–2012	Summer	F	3	5	1	9
Petria Thomas	1996–2004	Summer	F	3	4	1	8
Grant Hackett	2000–2008	Summer	M	3	3	1	7
Emily Seebohm	2008–2020	Summer	F	3	3	1	7
Andrew Hoy	1984–2020	Summer	M	3	2	1	6
Shirley Strickland	1948–1956	Summer	F	3	1	3	7
Jessica Fox	2012–2024	Summer	F	3	1	2	6
Shane Gould	1972	Summer	F	3	1	1	5
Drew Ginn	1996–2012	Summer	M	3	1	0	4
James Tomkins	1992–2004	Summer	M	3	0	1	4
Bronte Campbell	2012–2024	Summer	F	3	0	1	4
Matthew Ryan	1992–2000	Summer	M	3	0	0	3
Rechelle Hawkes	1988–2000	Summer	F	3	0	0	3
Jodie Henry	2004	Summer	F	3	0	0	3
Stephanie Rice	2008–2012	Summer	F	3	0	0	3

People in bold are still active competitors

Dale Begg-Smith and Torah Bright are the most successful Australian athletes at the Winter Olympics, with one gold medal and one silver each (Steven Bradbury, Alisa Camplin, and Lydia Lassila all won one gold and one bronze medal). Emma McKeon is the most prolific athlete at a single games, winning 7 medals (4 gold, 3 bronze) at the 2020 Olympics. While Lauren Jackson never won a gold medal, she is the only Australian to win medals in five different Olympics.

Summary by sport

Swimming

Australia first competed in swimming at the 1900 Games, with Frederick 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	76	78	76	230

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	22	29	32	83^[9]

Canoeing

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	8	9	15	32

Cycling

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	18	21	23	62

Rowing

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	13	15	17	45

Sailing

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
	14	9	8	31

Skateboarding

Keegan Palmer won a gold medal - Australia’s first skateboarding medal in the Men’s Park event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. At the 2024 Paris Olympics both Keegan Palmer and Arisa Trew both won gold at the respective Men and Women’s Park events.

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 credited to Australia. The first 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. In 2024, Matthew Ebden and John Peers won the men's doubles, providing Australia with its second gold medal in tennis.

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Total	2	1	4	7^[10]

External links

Web site: Australia . 27 July 2021 . International Olympic Committee .
Web site: Australia . Olympedia.com .
Web site: Olympic Analytics/AUS . olympanalyt.com .
Australia NOC

Notes and References

Web site: Australia’s first Olympian . 9 August 2024 . National Museum of Australia . en.
Web site: 100 years of the AOC . 4 August 2024 .
Web site: 100 years of the AOC . 4 August 2024 .
Web site: Australia's Olympic Medal Tally - Summer Games . 4 August 2024 .
Web site: Sporting greats share fears for Australia's Olympic standing as Australian Institute of Sport marks 40 years . 4 August 2024 .
Web site: 100 years of the AOC . 4 August 2024 .
Web site: 100 years of the AOC . 4 August 2024 .
Web site: St Louis 1904. 2019-08-19. 2019-08-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20190819061300/https://www.olympics.com.au/games/st-louis-1904. live.
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.