Australia at the Olympics

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.[2][3][4]

Australia is the first country in history in the Southern Hemisphere to host the games.They 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. The country is due to host the Summer Olympics a third time in 2032 in Brisbane. In the Summer Olympics since 2000, Australia has placed 4th, 4th, 6th, 8th*, 10th and 6th respectively. (*Australia initially finished in 10th position in 2012, but 8th position after the redistributed gold medal to Jared Tallent). Given Australia has a population of only around 23 million people (ranked 53rd in the world[5]), this fact is frequently cited as noteworthy, and is ostensibly due to a strong sporting culture.[6] 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.[7][8] 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 Emma McKeon 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 team's 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.

According to official data of the International Olympic Committee. This is a list of people who have won three or more Olympic gold medals for Australia. Medals won in the 1906 Intercalated Games are not included. It includes top-three placings in 1896 and 1900, before medals were awarded for top-three placings.

Athlete	Sport	Years	Games	Gender				Total
Ian Thorpe	Swimming	2000–2004	Summer	M	5	3	1	9
Emma McKeon	Swimming	2016–2020	Summer	F	5	2	4	11
Dawn Fraser	Swimming	1956–1964	Summer	F	4	4	0	8
Cate Campbell	Swimming	2008–2020	Summer	F	4	1	3	8
Libby Trickett	Swimming	2004–2012	Summer	F	4	1	2	7
Murray Rose	Swimming	1956–1960	Summer	M	4	1	1	6
Betty Cuthbert	Athletics	1956–1964	Summer	F	4	0	0	4
Leisel Jones	Swimming	2000–2012	Summer	F	3	5	1	9
Petria Thomas	Swimming	1996–2004	Summer	F	3	4	1	8
Grant Hackett	Swimming	2000–2008	Summer	M	3	3	1	7
Emily Seebohm	Swimming	2008–2020	Summer	F	3	3	1	7
Andrew Hoy	Equestrian	1992–2020	Summer	M	3	2	1	6
Shirley Strickland	Athletics	1948–1956	Summer	F	3	1	3	7
Shane Gould	Swimming	1972	Summer	F	3	1	1	5
Drew Ginn	Rowing	1996–2012	Summer	M	3	1	0	4
James Tomkins	Rowing	1992–2004	Summer	M	3	0	1	4
Kaylee McKeown	Swimming	2020	Summer	F	3	0	1	4
Matthew Ryan	Equestrian	1992–2000	Summer	M	3	0	0	3
Rechelle Hawkes	Field Hockey	1988–2000	Summer	F	3	0	0	3
Jodie Henry	Swimming	2004	Summer	F	3	0	0	3
Stephanie Rice	Swimming	2008–2012	Summer	F	3	0	0	3

• People in bold are still active competitors

Dale Begg-Smith and Torah Bright are the most successful Australian athletes at the Winter Olympics, with one gold medal and one silver each (Steven Bradbury, Alisa Camplin, and Lydia Lassila all won one gold and one bronze medal). Emma McKeon is the most prolific athlete at a single games, winning 7 medals (4 gold, 3 bronze) at the 2020 Olympics.

• List of flag bearers for Australia at the Olympics
• Australia at the Winter Olympics
• Australia at the Commonwealth Games
• Australia at the Universiade
• Australia at the World Championships in Athletics
• Category:Olympic competitors for Australia

• "Australia". International Olympic Committee. 27 July 2021.
• "Australia". Olympedia.com.
• "Olympic Analytics/AUS". olympanalyt.com.
• Australia NOC