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With 221 medals - 71 gold, 73 silver and 77 bronze - Australia are the second-most successful nation at the Olympics in the sport of swimming after the United States.
In fact, the Australian swimming team, nicknamed the Dolphins, account for over two-thirds of the 557 medals Australian athletes have won at the Summer Games to date, making swimming Australia’s best Olympic sport by far.
While there were no Australian swimmers present at the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, Frederick Lane bagged two gold medals at Paris 1900 to become the first Australian swimmer to win an Olympic medal.
Since then, a lot of swimming greats have followed in his strokes. Swimmer Fanny Durack, who won the women’s 100m freestyle swimming gold at Stockholm 1912, also holds the distinction of being the first Australian woman to win an Olympic medal.
Barring Athens 1896, Australian swimmers have been present in every edition of the modern Olympics to date. The Dolphins only failed to medal at one edition - Berlin 1936.
Emma McKeon is the most decorated Australian at the Olympics with 11 medals - five gold, two silver and four bronze. Seven of the 11 came at Tokyo 2020, which is also the standing record for most medals won by a single swimmer at any single Olympic edition.
She also jointly holds the record for most medals won by a female athlete in any sports at a single edition of the Olympics with Soviet gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya, who bagged two golds and five silvers at Helsinki 1952.
McKeon’s fellow Dolphin Ian Thorpe, meanwhile**,** is the most successful Australian man at the Summer Games with nine medals - five gold, three silver and one bronze.
Sandra Morgan, who was 14 years and 180 days old when she won the women’s 4x100m freestyle gold at Melbourne 1956, is the youngest Australian Olympic champion in history.
Swimming legend Shane Gould, meanwhile, was just 275 days over 15 years when she won the women’s 200m individual medley event at Munich 1972, making her the youngest individual gold medal winner in Australia’s Olympic history.
Murray Rose, Leisel Jones, Jodie Henry, Petria Thomas, Stephanie Rice and Kaylee McKeown have been some of the other top Australian swimming stars on the Olympic stage over the years.