Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 08:15, 25 August 2016

Template:Infobox Olympics Australia Hi, this A.H. 25.8.2016

Australia has sent athletes to almost all editions of the modern Olympic Games. Australia has competed in 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.

The Australian Olympic Committee was founded and recognised in 1895. Edwin Flack was the first athlete to represent Australia at the Olympics. 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. Australia's kit is green and gold.

Australia has hosted the Summer Olympic games twice: in 1956 in Melbourne and in 2000 in Sydney. Australia finished 3rd and 4th in the respective medal counts. In the Summer Olympics since 2000, Australia has placed 4th, 4th, 6th and 10th* respectively. (* Australia finished in 8th position in 2012 if the redistributed gold medal to Jared Tallent is considered). Given Australia has a population of only around 23 million people (ranked 53rd in the world), this fact is frequently cited as noteworthy by the mainstream Australian media due to a strong sporting culture. 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. Prior to Montreal, there was no government funding, however.

Many of Australia's gold medals have come in swimming, a sport which is popular in Australia, with swimmers from Dawn Fraser to Ian Thorpe ranking among the sport's all-time greats. Other sports where Australia has historically been strong include:

• field hockey, with the women's team winning three gold medals between 1988 and 2000 and the men's team winning in 2004;
• cycling, particularly track cycling;
• rowing;
• equestrian events and specifically the three-day teams eventing;
• and sailing.

Australia 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. Australia has been more modestly successful in the track events at the games, particularly in modern times. Historically, Betty Cuthbert is Australia's most successful track athlete with four gold medals (three in 1956 and one in 1964).

Australia 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). This is a reflection on increased funding of Australia's Olympic Winter Games team.

Medal tables

*Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Medals by summer sport  Swimming 60 64 64 188  Athletics 21 26 26 73  Cycling 14 19 18 51  Rowing 11 15 14 40  Sailing 11 8 8 27  Equestrian 6 3 3 12  Shooting 5 1 5 11  Field hockey 4 3 5 12  Canoeing 3 8 13 24  Diving 3 3 7 13  Triathlon 1 2 2 5  Tennis 1 1 3 5  Weightlifting 1 1 2 4  Taekwondo 1 1 0 2  Water polo 1 0 2 3  Archery 1 0 2 3  Beach volleyball 1 0 1 2  Modern pentathlon 1 0 0 1  Rugby sevens 1 0 0 1  Basketball 0 3 2 5  Boxing 0 1 3 4  Softball 0 1 3 4  Wrestling 0 1 2 3  Gymnastics 0 1 0 1  Baseball 0 1 0 1  Judo 0 0 2 2 Total 147 163 187 497

Medals by winter sport  Freestyle skiing 3 2 2 7  Snowboarding 1 1 0 2  Short track speed skating 1 0 1 2  Alpine skiing 0 0 1 1 Total 5 3 4 12

These totals do not include ten medals won by Australians competing for the combined Australasia team in 1908 and 1912: eight by individuals, one by an exclusively Australian team, and one by a combined team.

Most successful Olympians

See also

• Australia at the Winter Olympics
• Australia at the Commonwealth Games
• Australia at the Summer Universiade
• Australia at the World Championships in Athletics
• Category:Olympic competitors for Australia

Notes

1. Australian National Colours: green and gold Retrieved 23 August 2012
2. Golden Wattle Retrieved 23 August 2012
3. Our national symbols Retrieved 23 August 2012
4. CIA - The World Factbook
5. O, Noel (8 August 2012). "By population, Australia is on top of the medal tally". The Roar. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
6. Olympic Games | Crawford Report | Sports Funding | Richard Evans
7. http://www.nationalpost.com/scripts/feeds/story.html?id=2210902. Retrieved January 8, 2010. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• "Australia". International Olympic Committee.
• Template:IOC medals
• "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee.
• "Australia". Sports-Reference.com.
• Australia NOC

v t e National Olympic Committees that have competed at the Olympic Games
Nations at the Summer Olympics Nations at the Winter Olympics tropical nations
Africa	Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo DR Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Americas	Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda Bolivia Brazil British Virgin Islands Canada Summer Winter Cayman Islands Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Puerto Rico St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Summer Winter Uruguay Venezuela Virgin Islands
Asia	Afghanistan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China Chinese Taipei East Timor Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal North Korea Oman Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen
Europe	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Summer Winter Great Britain Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine
Oceania	American Samoa Australia Winter Cook Islands Fiji Guam Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
Other	Independent Olympians Mixed teams Korea Olympic Athletes from Russia Russian Olympic Committee Refugee Olympic Team
Historical	Australasia Bohemia British West Indies Republic of China Czechoslovakia East Germany Netherlands Antilles North Borneo North Yemen Rhodesia Russian Empire Saar Serbia and Montenegro South Yemen Soviet Union West Germany Unified Team United Team of Germany Yugoslavia
Olympic Games portal

v t e National sports teams of Australia
A1 GP Athletics Australian rules football Badminton Baseball M M U19 M U18 Schoolboys W Baseball5 Basketball M M U19 M U17 M 3x3 W W U19 W U17 W 3x3 Beach handball M M U17 W Beach soccer Cricket M Aus A M U19 PM's XI W W U19 Blind Field hockey M M U21 W W U21 Floorball M U19 W Futsal M W Goalball M W Golf Gridiron Gymnastics Handball M M U21 M U18 W W U21 W U18 Ice hockey M M U20 M U18 MPara W W U18 Indoor hockey Inline hockey M W International rules M W Korfball Lacrosse M Indoor W Motorcycle Speedway Open U21 Netball M W Pitch and putt Quadball Roller derby M W Roller hockey Rugby league M W PM's XIII Indigenous Junior Schoolboys Wheelchair Rugby union M Aus A M U21 M U20 M U19 Schoolboys M7 W W7 Soccer M MB M U23 M U20 M U17 P7 W W U23 W U20 W U17 Softball M W M U17 W U18 Squash M W Swimming Tennis Davis Cup Fed Cup Hopman Cup Volleyball M W W U18 Water polo M W Wheelchair basketball M W Wheelchair rugby
Olympics Winter Paralympics Winter Commonwealth Games Universiade

• Australia at the Olympics
• National sports teams of Australia