- From Cathy Freeman’s home victory in 2000 to the recent double gold antics of Jessica Fox, Australia has had its fair share of greatest moments at the Olympic Games.
- These feats, which has been immortalised in history, are a stellar reminder of how the country certainly punches above its weight when it comes to athletic prowess.
- In light of our most prolific Olympic start to date, we’ve decided to revisit some Aussie highlights.
The only thing Australia loves more than sport is winning on the world stage — especially at the Olympic Games. With our most successful effort yet in Paris 2024 — claiming a record-best 18 gold medals thus far — we thought it was an appropriate time for a quick retrospective of Australia’s greatest Olympic moments.
Check them out now.
Cathy Freeman runs like hell for the 400m gold in Sydney (2000)
The 2000 Sydney Olympics was a spectacle for the ages.
At the turn of the millennium, Australia had the distinct privilege of hosting an Olympic Games for the first time since Melbourne in 1956. We also had the opportunity shine in a field we weren’t exactly renowned for: athletics.
After winning the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, ahead of the Sydney Games, the weight of the entire nation was on Cathy Freeman’s shoulders. She qualified fifth fastest after the first round, advancing to Round 2 and the Semi-Finals as the fastest woman on the track (50.01 seconds).
Freeman arrived on the start block of the 400-metre final donning her iconic green and white skinsuit, welcomed by 120,000 screaming fans who’d packed out Stadium Australia. In Lane 6, she won the gold medal with a season-best time of 49.11 seconds, inscribing her name into the history books with indelible ink.
Ian Thorpe’s all-or-nothing 400m freestyle gold in Athens (2004)
Ian Thorpe’s highly-decorated swimming career deserves its own article, but his greatest swim is undoubtedly the 400-metre freestyle final at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Yes, his gold medal for the 400-metre freestyle in Sydney 2000 was also one for the books. Great champions, however, are defined by the pressure they’re forced to overcome. And in Athens, the Thorpedo was under unimaginable pressure.
During the Australian Olympic swimming trials ahead of Athens, Thorpe false started in his heat and was immediately disqualified. His only avenue for competing in the 400-metre freestyle was through his friend and training partner Craig Stevens, who’d given up his spot on the team; thereby allowing him to defend his Olympic gold medal.
Thorpey would win back-to-back gold medals in the 400-metre freestyle, beating fellow Aussie great Grant Hackett by just 0.26 seconds and bronze medallist Klete Keller by more than a second; confirming himself as Australia’s then-most successful Olympic athlete.
Australia triumphs against the United States in Sydney’s 4x100m Freestyle (2000)
Nothing compares to a good rivalry in the world of sport. After American 100-metre specialist Gary Hall Jr vowed his team would “smash Australia like guitars,” the Sydney Olympics’ 4×100-metre freestyle was set to be an absolute howler.
The native side was led by Michael Klim, alongside Chris Fydler, Ashley Callus, and Ian Thorpe — and just over an hour after the latter had broken the 400-metre freestyle world record, no less.
On home turf, the Australian team beat back the United States — who had, at that point, never lost this specific event — for the first time in 36 years, shattering the world record by nearly 1.5 seconds.
Despite being predominantly known for the 200-metre and 400-metre freestyle, Thorpey was only 6/100ths of a second slower than Hall Jr; while Klim set a new world record 100-metre freestyle time of 48.18 seconds.
Matthew Mitcham gets it done with diving’s highest-ever score in Beijing (2008)
It’s no secret Australia is mainly known for its success in the lap pool. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Matthew Mitcham proved we were pretty decent in the diving pool as well when he won a gold medal for the men’s 10-metre platform event.
The kicker? He sealed the deal by earning the highest recorded score in Olympic diving history.
Steven Bradbury’s unlikely victory in Salt Lake City (2002)
One of the few Olympic athletes to have a phrase named after them, “doing a Bradbury” was coined after Steven Bradbury won the gold medal in the men’s 1,000-metre short track speed skating during the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Bradbury was the furthest thing from the favourite as he lined up for the event final. But miraculously, after trailing 15 metres behind the pack with 50 metres to go, all four of his opponents toppled over each other on the lcosing bend.
“I was the oldest bloke in the field and I knew that, skating four races back to back, I wasn’t going to have any petrol left in the tank,” he said after the race.
“So there was no point in getting there and mixing it up because I was going to be in last place anyway. So (I figured) I might as well stay out of the way and be in last place and hope that some people get tangled up.”
When Steven Bradbury crossed the finish line, he also became the first person from a southern hemisphere country to win a Winter Olympic event.
Sally Pearson runs & jumps like hell for the 100m hurdles gold in London (2012)
As mentioned earlier, Australia isn’t exactly renowned for its strength on the athletics track. Though that didn’t stop Sally Pearson from winning the 100-metre hurdles gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics.
While Pearson had run the fastest time of the 2012 season ahead of the Olympics, she was up against formidable competition in the defending champion Dawn Harper.
After moving through the heats with the fastest times in the field, she outperformed Harper by 2/100ths of a second to claim one of just three athletics medals Australia won in that edition of the Olympics.
Emma McKeon: World-Beater in Tokyo (2021)
While not a specific moment or race, no greatest Australian Olympic moments list would be complete without mentioning the incredible performances of Emma McKeon over three Olympic Games — which has cemented her as Australia’s most successful Olympic athlete in history.
To date McKeon has won six gold medals at the Olympics (total medal count: 14), including one in Rio, four in Tokyo, and another one in Paris.
The star Dolphin was also the most successful athlete in any sport during the Tokyo Olympic games, winning a total of seven medals and breaking seven Olympic records across four events in the process.
Ariarne Titmus wins 400m freestyle gold in Tokyo while Coach Dean Boxall flips out (2021)
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the women’s 400-metre freestyle was tipped to be one of the biggest races of the games, pitting our very own Ariarne Titmus against defending Olympic champion Katie Ledecky.
After trailing a full body length behind the United States’ Ledecky at the halfway mark, Titmus dug deep to swim the second-fastest time in history, and claim the gold medal with a stellar finish time of 3:56.69.
In addition to the event being Ledecky’s inaugural individual Olympic loss, Titmus’ coach Dean Boxall captivated the world’s attention with his ecstatic response in the stands.
Ariarne Titmus swam one of the greatest 400-metre freestyle races of all time (paving the way for her world record-breaking run in 2022); while Boxall provided the wildest swimming celebration of all time.
Jessica Fox becomes the canoeing GOAT in Paris (2024)
This year, Jess Fox has been elevated to the status of a household name on par with Australia’s prolific stable of Olympic swimmers.
While she made her Olympic debut all the way back in 2012 (claiming a silver medal at the age of 18), her first gold medal wouldn’t come until the C1 event at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Then there’s the most recent two instances of gilded glory from the ongoing Paris Games’ C1 and K1 events; Fox’s younger sister Noemie has also since won gold in Paris for slalom kayak cross (some things just run in the family).
To date, Jess Fox has won the same amount of Olympic gold as Grant Hackett, Leisel Jones, and Stephanie Rice (3) with six medals in total.
Her success outside of the Olympics, however, is even more impressive in our opinion: 81 World Cup individual podiums (51 victories) and 11 overall World Cup victories across 14 years of competition.
Arisa Trew becomes Australia’s youngest-ever gold medallist in Paris (2024)
With the world as her witness — and her sport’s GOAT Tony Hawke in the actual stands — Arisa Trew immortalised herself as not just the youngest Olympic medallist in Australian history, but the youngest Olympic gold medallist.
Climbing to the top podium step for women’s skateboarding at the tender age of 14 years and 86 days, she effectively succeeded swimmer Sandra Morgan, who won a gold medal for the women’s 4×100-metre freestyle relay during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
“I was just thinking on my final run that I had to land it no matter what,” Arisa Trew said of her crowning trick (an audacious McTwist into body varial 540).
This next generation of Aussie Olympians are in safe, and exceedingly capable, hands.
Keep up-to-date on the greatest moments of the 2024 Paris Olympics here.
