Record-breaking day makes Paris 2024 Australia’s best-ever Olympics campaign

With 18 gold medals already in the bag, Paris 2024 has already emerged as Australia’s most successful Olympics campaign to date.

Previously, Australia’s best gold medal count at any single edition of the Olympics was 17 - won at Athens 2004 and Tokyo 2020. In terms of total medals won, however, Sydney 2000 which yielded 58 medals - 16 gold, 25 silver and 17 bronze - still ranks top.

Athens 2004 saw Australian athletes claim 50 medals - 17 gold, 16 silver and 17 bronze - in total. At Tokyo 2020, Australian athletes won 46 medals - 17 gold, seven silver and 22 bronze.

The Australian Olympic Team at Paris 2024 has already secured 41 medals - 18 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze - and will have more opportunities to the tally with three days of competition left.

On Wednesday, August 7, Australian athletes added six medals - four gold and two bronze - to the tally, making it the country’s biggest haul on a single day in its Olympic history.

Matt Wearn (men's dinghy sailing), Keegan Palmer (men's park skateboarding), Oliver Bleddyn, Kelland O'Brien, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy (men’s team pursuit track cycling) and Nina Kennedy (women's pole vault) accounted for the golds.

Nina Kennedy became the first Australian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the pole vault. It was her gold that took Australia over the line in their historic tally.

Rhydian Cowley and Jemima Montag (mixed relay race walk marathon) and Matthew Denny (men's discus throw), meanwhile, were responsible for the two bronze on the historic day.

Matthew Denny’s bronze was Australia’s first medal in the discus throw in 128 years.

A day earlier on Tuesday, 14-year-old skateboarder Arisa Trew had taken the gold in the women’s park event, thus becoming the youngest Australian to ever win a medal at the Olympics, breaking Sandra Morgan’s 68-year-old record.

Of Australia’s current haul of 41 at Paris 2024, 18, including seven golds, have been contributed by the Dolphins - the country’s swimming team.