OLYMPICS –
With the Games at an end, Australia has brought home 46 medals, 17 gold, 7 silver and 22 bronze, shared among 99 team members – including two from the Coast – within 15 sports and 20 disciplines.
It is the third largest overall haul the nation has ever achieved, tied with Beijing 2008, as well as our all-time highest amount of gold, tied with Athens 2004.
This has seen us finish in sixth place, both overall and on gold, with USA winning on 39 gold and 113 overall.
China finished second with 38 gold and 88 overall, then hosts Japan with 27 and 58, Britain with 22 and 65 (coming back from behind the Aussies after Week One), then the Russian Olympic Committee with 20 and 71.
This was the 24th Olympics in which Australia competed as an independent national team, the first being Antwerp 1920.
Australia sent 13 athletes to Belgium, a number lower than our Tokyo gold tally alone, and 37-fold less than the 486 Aussie athletes to compete.
Australia now has a new all-time most successful Australian Olympian in Emma McKeon, who earned four gold and three bronze in the swimming pool.
Four of McKeon’s medals were from relay events so her efforts contributed to the national swimming team’s total of 21 medals, including nine gold and at least one medal on every day of finals races.
Gold medals were also won in BMX Freestyle, Canoe Slalom and Sprints, Rowing, Sailing, Skateboarding.
An incredible performance was put in by the Australian Rowing team on July 27 who earned gold in both the Women’s and Men’s Fours, as well as bronze in the Women’s and Men’s Quadruple Sculls.
This was the most successful daily result for Australian Rowing at the Games in their entire Olympic history, topped off by their two newly-set Olympic Records in the Men’s and Women’s Fours.
After a silver in London 2012, a bronze at Rio 2016 and in the Women’s Kayak Slalom at Tokyo on Tuesday July 27, Jessica Fox finally reached gold in the Canoe Slalom on Thursday, July 29.
In sailing, Matt Wearn from Perth won gold in the Men’s one person Dinghy-Laser event after coming out well on top throughout 10 heats and a medals race on Sunday, August 1.
Australia again won sailing gold in the Men’s Two Person Dinghy, with Matthew Belcher and Will Ryan finishing eight seconds ahead of second place Sweden in the Medals race.
For 18 year old debutant, Keegan Palmer, his gold medal will forever be remembered as the first in Men’s Park Skateboarding’s Olympic history, earned with his first run score of 94.04 in the Final on Thursday, August 5.
There were a number of close calls within the Athletics and team sport events, most notably with Peter Bol’s fourth place finish in the 800 metre final, Brandon Starc’s fifth in High Jump, and two quarter final losses in Women’s Water Polo and Basketball.
Silver was won by Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy in Beach Volleyball, as well as by the Australian Equestrian Eventing Jumping Team Final, and then Andrew Hoy went on to place third in the Eventing Individual.
CCN