Australian athletes have won 557 medals – 167 gold, 177 silver and 213 bronze – in 29 appearances at the Olympics to date. Get full list.
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Australian athletes have been a part of every Olympics since the modern Summer Games first began in 1896.
In fact, Greece and Australia are the only two nations that have had representatives in every edition of the modern Olympic Games. However, Australian and New Zealand athletes competed together under the Australasia flag at London 1908 and Stockholm 1912.
At Athens 1896, Australia fielded only one athlete. Edwin Flack, who competed in both athletics and tennis, won gold medals in men’s 800m and 1500m, becoming the first Australian to win a medal at the Olympics.
Flack also partnered Friedrich Traun of Germany to win the bronze in men’s doubles tennis as part of a mixed team.
Fanny Durack is the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Olympics. She bagged a gold in the women’s 100m freestyle swimming event at Stockholm 1912,
Durack and fellow swimmer Wilhelmina Wylie, who settled for silver in the 100m freestyle, are the first Australian women’s Olympians.
Australian athletes have returned with at least one medal in every edition since, accounting for a total of 557 medals - 167 gold, 177 silver and 213 bronze - in 29 Summer Games appearances to date.
The Aussie’s worst showing at the Olympics was at Berlin 1936, with Jack Metcalfe accounting for the solitary bronze medal in the men’s triple jump.
Australia’s best performance at the Olympics came at Sydney 2000, which saw Australian athletes clinch 58 medals - 16 gold, 25 silver and 17 bronze. As non-hosts, Australia’s best performance was at Athens 2004, which yielded 50 medals, including 17 golds.
At the last edition in Tokyo 2020, Australia won 46 medals, which included 17 top podium finishes.
Swimming has been Australia’s most productive sport at the Olympics, accounting for over 200 of the country’s medals. Athletics is a distant second.
Emma McKeon is the most decorated Australian at the Olympics with 11 medals - five gold, two silver and four bronze. Fellow swimming great Ian Thorpe is the most successful Aussie man at the Summer Games with nine medals - five gold, three silver and one bronze.
* Medals won as part of mixed teams.