Australia at the Olympics

Australia has sent athletes to 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.

Australia at the Olympics
IOC code	AUS
NOC	Australian Olympic Committee
Website	www.olympics.com.au
Medals Ranked 14th	Gold 188 Silver 199 Bronze 232 Total 619
Summer appearances
1896 1900 1904 1908 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)

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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	Melbourne, 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	Melbourne, Victoria	Seoul, South Korea
1992 Summer Olympics	Brisbane, Queensland	Barcelona, Spain
1996 Summer Olympics	Melbourne, Victoria	Atlanta, United States

Overview of Olympic participation

See also: All-time Olympic Games medal table

Timeline of participation

Date	Team
1896-1904	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
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	461	18	19	16	53	4
2028 Los Angeles	future event
2032 Brisbane	future event
Total		182	192	226	600	4

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 Milano Cortina	future event
2030 French Alps
2034 Salt Lake City
Total		6	7	6	19	26

Medals by summer sport

  Leading in that sport

Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Swimming	76	78	76	230
Athletics	22	29	32	83
Cycling	18	21	23	62
Sailing	14	9	8	31
Rowing	13	15	17	45
Canoeing	8	9	15	32
Equestrian	6	5	4	15
Shooting	5	1	6	12
Field hockey	4	4	5	13
Diving	3	4	8	15
Skateboarding	3	0	0	3
Tennis	2	1	4	7
Triathlon	1	2	2	5
Water polo	1	1	2	4
Weightlifting	1	1	2	4
Beach volleyball	1	1	1	3
Taekwondo	1	1	0	2
Archery	1	0	2	3
Modern pentathlon	1	0	0	1
Rugby sevens	1	0	0	1
Basketball	0	3	4	7
Boxing	0	1	6	7
Softball	0	1	3	4
Wrestling	0	1	2	3
Marathon swimming	0	1	1	2
Surfing	0	1	1	2
Baseball	0	1	0	1
Gymnastics	0	1	0	1
Judo	0	0	2	2
Totals (29 entries)	182	192	226	600

Medals by winter sport

Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Freestyle skiing	4	3	2	9
Snowboarding	1	3	2	6
Short track speed skating	1	0	1	2
Skeleton	0	1	0	1
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 611 medals at the Summer Olympics (185 gold, 196 silver and 230 bronze).

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	Sport	Years	Games	Gender				Total
Emma McKeon	Swimming	2016–2024	Summer	F	6	3	5	14
Ian Thorpe	Swimming	2000–2004	Summer	M	5	3	1	9
Mollie O'Callaghan	Swimming	2020–2024	Summer	F	5	1	2	8
Kaylee McKeown	Swimming	2020–2024	Summer	F	5	1	3	9
Dawn Fraser	Swimming	1956–1964	Summer	F	4	4	0	8
Ariarne Titmus	Swimming	2020–2024	Summer	F	4	3	1	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	1984–2020	Summer	M	3	2	1	6
Shirley Strickland	Athletics	1948–1956	Summer	F	3	1	3	7
Jessica Fox	Canoeing	2012–2024	Summer	F	3	1	2	6
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
Bronte Campbell	Swimming	2012–2024	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

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.

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

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
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

See also

• List of flag bearers for Australia at the Olympics
• Australia at the Winter Olympics
• Australia at the Commonwealth Games
• Australia at the Universiade
• Australia at the World Championships in Athletics
• Category:Olympic competitors for Australia

External links

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