Historically, Betty Cuthbert is Australia's most successful track athlete with four gold medals (three in 1956 and one in 1964).Īustralia 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). Australia has been more modestly successful in the track events at the games, particularly in modern times. equestrian events and specifically the three-day team's eventing Īustralia 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.field hockey, with the women's team winning three gold medals between 19 and the men's team winning in 2004.Other sports where Australia has historically been strong include:

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. Prior to Montreal, there was no government funding, however. 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. Given Australia has a population of only around 23 million people (ranked 53rd in the world ), this fact is frequently cited as noteworthy, and is ostensibly due to a strong sporting culture. (*Australia initially finished in 10th position in 2012, but 8th position after the redistributed gold medal to Jared Tallent). In the Summer Olympics since 2000, Australia has placed 4th, 4th, 6th, 8th*, 10th and 6th respectively. The country is due to host the Summer Olympics a third time in 2032 in Brisbane. Australia finished 3rd and 4th in the respective medal counts. Īustralia 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. 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. Edwin Flack was the first athlete to represent Australia at the Olympics. The Australian Olympic Committee was founded and recognised in 1895. In 19 Australia competed with New Zealand under the name Australasia. Australia has competed in every Summer Olympic Games, as well as every Winter Olympics except 1924–. Īustralia has sent athletes to all editions of the modern Olympic Games. Australian Olympic Team Uniforms unveiled for Rio 2016 Australian Olympic athletes in 1932 wearing the traditional uniform of a dark green blazer trimmed with yellow, still in use at the London 2012 opening ceremony.

Australia olympic games tokyo 2020