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Australia at the Olympic Games
Flag of Australia IOC code  AUS NOC Australian Olympic Committee external link
Olympic history
Summer Games
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 *with New Zealand as Australasia
Winter Games
1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1994 • 1998 • 2002 • 2006 • 2010

Australia has sent athletes to almost all editions of the modern Olympic Games. Australia has competed in every Summer Olympic Games, and most Winter Olympic Games, the latter each time since 1952.

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 of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

In 1908 and 1912 Australia competed with New Zealand under the name Australasia.

Australia hosted the Summer games twice. In 1956 in Melbourne and in 2000 in Sydney finished 3rd and 4th in the respective medal counts.

In the Summer Olympics since 2000, Australia has placed 4th, 4th and 6th, respectively. Given Australia has a population of only around 20 million people (ranked 53rd in the world^[1]) this type of fact is frequently cited as noteworthy by the mainstream Australia media ^[2]. However, other observers have suggested this may be a result of the disproportionate amounts of funding the Australian Government has injected into elite sports with the specific intention of increasing the gold medal count at the Olympic games. ^[3][4]

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

• field hockey, with the women's winning three gold medals between 1988 to 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. Cathy Freeman won a gold medal in the 400 metres at the 2000 Sydney games.

Australia did not win a medal at the Winter Olympics until 1994, but has since moved higher on the medal tallies since then (ranking 15th at Salt Lake City 2002). This is a reflection on increased funding of Australia's Olympic Winter Games team.

Medal tables

Medals by Summer Games

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	2	0	0	0	0	–
1908 London	29	as part of  Australasia (ANZ)				11
1912 Stockholm	28	as part of  Australasia (ANZ)				12
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	85	6	2	3	11	9
1956 Melbourne/Stockholm (host nation)	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 (host nation)	630	16	25	17	58	4
2004 Athens	482	17	16	16	49	4
2008 Beijing	433	14	15	17	46	6
Total (AUS)		131	137	164	432	11
Total (ANZ)		3	4	4	11

Medals by Winter Games

Medals by sport (both Summer and Winter)

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

See also

• Australia at the Winter Olympics
• Australia at the Commonwealth Games
• Category:Olympic competitors for Australia

External links

• Australia NOC
• Olympics Picture site

References

• "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/results/search_r_uk.asp. Retrieved 2007-12-06.  
• "Australian Olympic Committee". International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/noc/noc_uk.asp?noc_initials=AUS. Retrieved 2007-12-06.