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Australia Now

Australia and the Olympics

Australia has a proud record of sports administration and has enthusiastically contributed to the management of the Olympics. Australians have served with distinction on the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Two Summer Olympic Games were successfully staged in Australia, in Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000. IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch described the Sydney Games as ‘the best ever’.

Australia and the Olympic movement

Inspired by the games at Olympia in ancient Greece, in 1894 French educator Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee to revive the event and open it to the world. The first Games of the modern era were held in Athens in 1896.

The Olympics have since become the world’s premier international multi-sport event. They are divided into summer and winter games each held every four years. Athletes with disabilities compete in the Paralympics held after the Olympics.

Australia endorses the Games as an opportunity for nations to come together in peace and friendship. Athletic achievement draws admiration, respect and positive attention to participating nations.

Australia has competed in all 25 Summer Olympics. It has also sent teams to 16 of the 20 Winter Olympics. In 1908 and 1912 Australia joined New Zealand under the name ‘Australasia’. Australia and Greece are the only two nations to have participated at every Summer Olympics of the modern era.

The IOC remains the umbrella organisation of the Olympic movement and has primary responsibility for supervising the organisation of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

Notable Australian sports administrators who are current IOC members include Kevan Gosper, Phil Coles and John Coates. The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has the exclusive responsibility for representation of Australia at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The AOC neither seeks nor derives funding from the Australian Government. To help achieve Australian Olympic team objectives the AOC provides funding to national federations, athletes and their coaches.

For the 2005–08 quadrennium which includes the Summer and Winter Games, the AOC will provide $42.5 million in funding. The AOC will send the Australian Olympic team to Beijing at a cost of $14.6 million and will spend $20 million to prepare the team for Beijing. In addition the AOC has a commitment to the development of Australian youth and sport through the staging the Australian Youth Olympic Festival every two years. The AOC fully funds this event and to date has conducted four festivals since 2001 at a cost of over $10 million.

Australian participation

After the first modern Games in Athens where Australia sent one competitor and Australia’s first gold medallist Edwin Flack, the Australian team expanded to 27 in London in 1908 and brought home four medals. By 1924, the contingent had grown to 34, but the number fell to 12 in 1932 when Australia won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze. The Australian team increased from 77 in London in 1948, to 325 at the 1956 Melbourne Games (being a home Games), where Australia won 35 medals. Australian participation levelled off at 135 for Mexico City in 1968 (17 medals) and 176 in Montreal in 1976 (5 medals).

In response to these disappointing performances, the government backed the establishment of the Australian Institute of Sports (AIS) in Canberra in 1981, offering scholarships in eight sports. Today, the AIS, a division of the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), offers scholarships to 700 athletes each year in 35 separate programs covering 26 sports. It has 75 coaches and also provides scholarship programs for athletes with disabilities. In addition to promoting elite sports training in Australia, the expertise provided by the AIS has benefited international athletes and sports industries. International coaches, sports scientists and sporting teams regularly visit the AIS to view and train at the facility. In recent years, the Australian Government—via AusAID and the Australian Sports Commission—has invested in programs that focus on sports development, particularly in the Pacific region. These initiatives have helped train elite sports people who have become Olympic competitors in their own countries.

Following the opening of the AIS, Australia sent a contingent of 249 to Los Angeles in 1984 and they brought back 24 medals. By Barcelona in 1992, the medal haul had increased to 27, reaching a peak of 58 medals at the Sydney Games in 2000, the most medals won at a home Games. More than half of the 632-strong Sydney Olympic team were current or former AIS athletes, and they won 32 of Australia’s medals. At the 2004 Athens Games, the Australian team of 482 athletes secured 49 medals, the most medals won at an away Games.

Australia’s strengths

Australia’s outstanding champion in the first Games in 1896 was Edwin Teddy Flack (1873–1935), who won gold medals in the 800 metre and 1500 metre races, and competed in the marathon and singles tennis, winning a bronze medal in doubles tennis.

Many of Australia’s gold medals have been in swimming, a popular sport in Australia. Frank Beaurepaire (1891–1956) won three silver and three bronze medals between 1908 and 1924. Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton (1907–75) won a total of five medals, one gold, three silver and one bronze, and set five world records.

Also world-record breaking was Murray Rose, who took four gold medals, a silver and a bronze in the pool at the Melbourne Games in 1956 and the Rome Games in 1960. Dawn Fraser won four golds and four silvers in her Olympic swimming career, and Shane Gould earned three golds, a silver and a bronze at Munich in 1972.

Swimming great Ian Thorpe secured the most medals for an Australian with nine: five gold, three silver and one bronze. His five-medal haul in Sydney was the highest in any Games by an Australian. Thorpe set 18 world records. Other record-breakers and medal winners in the pool include Petria Thomas, Susie O’Neill, Kieren Perkins, Grant Hackett, Jodie Henry, Leisel Jones and Michael Klim.

The biggest Australian names in athletics include hurdler and sprinter Shirley Strickland, who won seven Olympic medals: three gold, one silver, and three bronze. Sprinter Betty Cuthbert won four golds in Melbourne and Tokyo in 1964, and Cathy Freeman won silver in Atlanta and gold in Sydney in the 400 metres.

Other sports in which Australia has historically been strong are cycling, archery, equestrian events, rowing, shooting and field hockey. The women’s hockey team, the ‘Hockeyroos’, won a total of three gold medals at the 1988, 1996 and 2000 Games and the men’s team won in 2004. Beach volleyball was made instantly popular by Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst in 2000 when they won the gold medal for Australia at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Melbourne, 1956

The Melbourne Games in 1956 were the first to be held in the southern hemisphere. Having beaten rival bids from Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montreal and six United States cities, the Melbourne organisers built the Olympic Stand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the main events and the 107 700 people who attended the opening ceremony.

There were 17 sports and 145 events in the Melbourne Games and 72 nations and 3314 athletes competed. More than 1.3 million tickets were sold in Australia and 110 000 overseas. The Soviet Union won 98 medals, the United States 74 and Australia 35—the nation’s best result at that time.

Australia’s women sprinters were heroes of the Games. Betty Cuthbert earned three golds and her teammate Shirley Strickland (1925–2004) two. In the pool 17-year-old Murray Rose won three golds and Dawn Fraser, 19, two golds and a silver. Their achievements were captured on television, which was introduced in Australia in time to broadcast these historic events.

Despite boycotts by some nations over the Suez crisis and the Hungarian revolution, and China’s absence over the inclusion of Taiwan, the Games were hailed as a great success with the East and West Germans competing together. Laszlo Papp of Hungary became the first boxer to win three gold medals and American Pat McCormick won both diving events, just as she had in 1952.

Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, North Borneo and Uganda all made their Olympic debuts. In fencing, the electric foil was introduced and in swimming, the semi-automatic, digital-display timing device appeared.

Inspired by a letter to the Games organisers from Australian teenager John Wing, the organisers encouraged athletes to parade together at the closing ceremony, instead of with their national teams, as a symbol of global unity. The Melbourne Games thus became known as the ‘Friendly Games’.

Sydney, 2000

A proud moment for Australians was the night at Monte Carlo on 23 September 1993 when Sydney won the right to stage the 2000 Games over rival bids from Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester.

Overseen by mascots Syd (a platypus), Millie (an echidna) and Olly (a kookaburra), Sydney then launched into a massive environmental rehabilitation and reclamation of the postindustrial wasteland area of Homebush Bay, building Sydney Olympic Park and the Sydney International Aquatic Centre. During the Games these venues generated $610 million in ticket sales.

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch Relay began in Greece with the lighting of the torch on 10 May 2000. The relay around Australia, beginning at Uluru more than 3 months before the Games commenced, stimulated interest and participation in the Games. The torch travelled 27 000 kilometres in Australia over 100 days making it the longest torch relay in Olympic history. Once Cathy Freeman, Australia’s most famous Indigenous athlete, lit the Olympic cauldron, 199 nations and 10 651 athletes competed in 300 events. The United States won 97 medals, Russia 88, China 59 and Australia 58.

There were 28 sports and 300 events in the 2000 Olympics, including two new additions to the Olympic program—triathlon and taekwondo.

The highlight of track and field in Sydney for Australians was the 400 metre final win by Cathy Freeman, the first Indigenous Australian to win Olympic gold. Kayaker Birgit Fischer won two gold medals, becoming the first woman in any sport to win medals 20 years apart.

In swimming, 17-year-old Australian Ian Thorpe became a sporting legend, winning three gold medals and one silver medal for freestyle and relay events. In the 400 metre freestyle he broke his own world record.

Eritrea, Micronesia and Palau made their Olympic debuts. Women took part in weightlifting and the modern pentathlon for the first time in Olympic history. Maria Isabel Urrutia won the first gold medal for Colombia in the 69–75 kilogram weightlifting division. A major factor in the success of the Sydney Games was the outstanding support provided by almost 47 000 volunteers, who contributed more than 160 000 hours in the lead-up to the Games. The IOC commended the Sydney Games for the standard of athletic competition, the all-time high attendance, and the extensive television coverage.

It is estimated the Sydney Games generated up to $6.1 billion worth of international publicity for Australia and more than $6 billion in spending by an additional 1.6 million visitors in 2001. Strong partnerships and cooperation among the public and private sectors yielded substantial business and economic benefits.

Winter Games

First competing in 1936, Australia has participated in all Winter Olympics except St Moritz in 1948. Australia sent 40 athletes to the 2006 Turin Games to compete in 10 sports.

Kenneth Kennedy (1913–85) led the way for Australians as the sole representative in the 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch- Partenkirchen, where he came in 29th in the speed skating.

In 1952 there were nine Australian winter Olympians, with Colin Hickey ranked 10th in the 500 metre speed skating. By 1960 the team had grown to 31, but this fell off to three in 1968, slowly increasing since then to eight in 1976 when Colin Coates was 6th in the 1000 metre speed skating, to 11 in 1984 and 23 in 1992.

Australia’s first Winter Olympics medal, a bronze, was won by Steven Bradbury, Kieran Hansen, Andrew Murtha, Richard Nizielski at Lillehammer, Norway in 1994 in the men’s 5000 metre short-track relay speed skating event. Zali Steggall earned Australia’s first individual medal in 1998 with a bronze in the slalom event.

In 2002, Steven Bradbury won gold in the 1000 metre short-track speed skating and Alisa Camplin won gold in the aerials event, making Australia the only southern hemisphere country to have ever accomplished gold at a Winter Olympics. Australia sent 40 athletes to compete in 10 sports at the 2006 Games in Turin—a record number of participants and events for the nation. For the first time, there was a stated aim of winning a medal, and this goal was achieved when Dale Begg-Smith won the gold medal in men’s freestyle skiing. Alisa Camplin gained her second medal, a bronze in the aerials event.

The Olympic Winter Institute of Australia is an initiative of the Australian Olympic Committee and has programs in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing (aerial and mogul), snowboarding, short-track speed skating, figure skating (in conjunction with the AIS) and skeleton.

Paralympics

Australia has a proud record of participation in the Paralympics, which begin less than a month after the Olympic Games have concluded and now share the same venues. Australia has participated in every summer Paralympics since their inception in Rome in 1960, and every winter Paralympics since they began in Sweden in 1976. Australia has finished within the top 15 in the medal tally at every Paralympics.

Australia finished fifth on the medal table of the 2004 Athens Paralympics, after coming first at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, and second at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Both the Atlanta and Sydney Games featured stirring performances by Louise Sauvage, perhaps Australia’s best known Paralympian, who won gold in the 800m wheelchair event at both games.

Other Australian paralympians of note include Kurt Fearnley, who won gold in the 2004 Athens paralympic marathon; Prue Watt, a swimmer who competed at the 2004 games and is currently ranked second in the world in the 100m breaststroke; and Katrina Webb‑Denis, who is currently ranked first in the world in javelin.

Key Facts

Further information

This fact sheet is also available to download ( PDF)

Unless otherwise stated all dollar amounts are in Australian dollars

last updated May 2008