Australia’s Olympic history is long and prestigious. Some of the nation’s finest sporting moments have occurred at the Games. We’ve ranked the nation’s 10 best Olympic moments, so you don’t have to.
Whether it be in the pool or on the track or ice, Australia’s relationship with the Olympics has been storied and fortuitous. At the Summer Games, just seven nations have collected more medals than Australia’s 547, while naturally, the nation’s experiences at the Winter Olympics have been less fortunate, with 19 medals acquired across 20 appearances.
At their best, the Olympics pluck at the collective national heartstrings, inspiring an unrivalled level of patriotism. We’ve witnessed some pure Australian greatness at the games, but which moments are the greatest?
Australia’s 10 best Olympic moments
10. Duncan Armstrong wins gold
When: Seoul 1988
Duncan Armstrong hit the big time in 1988 at Seoul when he pipped American Matt Biondi to the gold medal in the final of the 200m men’s freestyle event.
Remarkably, Armstrong was ranked 46th in the world at the time and was competing against three World Record holders during the race, claiming his own World Record in doing so.
However, what lingers most in the memory of those who witnessed the event is the reaction of his coach Laurie Lawrence, who, it’s fair to say, went mad!
9. Jane Saville makes the entire nation proud
When: Athens 2004
At the 2000 games in Sydney, Jane Saville endured arguably Australia’s most heartbreaking moment in Olympic history. Leading the field with just 200 metres to go to the finish line, she was tragically disqualified from the 20km racewalking event for having both feet off the ground.
Completely heartbroken at the time, she used this experience as motivation to compete at the Athens Olympics four years later. While she only secured a bronze medal, she won the hearts of the nation with her true showing of the indomitable Aussie spirit.
8. Steve Hooker pole vaults to gold
When: Beijing 2008
Steve Hooker went from virtually unknown to international superstar overnight when he became the first Australian field athlete to take out a track and field gold medal in 40 years. Such is Hooker’s talent, his personal best of 6.06 metres is the fourth-highest in pole vaulting history.
7. The Oarsome Foursome
When: Barcelona 1992
When the rowing team of Andrew Cooper, Nick Green, Mike McKay and James Tomkins were unknown before the 1992 games. Claiming gold in Catalonia instantly propelled them to household names.
Although they struggled to capture their best form in the lead-up to the Olympic games, they managed to hold off a late rally by the American team to secure gold in the coxless four event. They would repeat the feat four years later, with Drew Ginn replacing Cooper, who by then had retired.
6. Dawn Fraser wins gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games
When: Tokyo 1964
Only Ian Thorpe betters Dawn Fraser’s Olympic medal haul of four gold medals and four silver medals. Put simply, Fraser is one of the finest Olympians Australia has ever produced. Indeed, she probably would have won more gold medals had she not received a lengthy ban for allegedly stealing a flag at the entrance to the emperor’s palace at the Tokyo Games in 1964.
Fraser took out her fourth gold medal in the 100 metre freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, making her the first person in Olympic history to win gold in the same event at three successive games. A problematic figure later in life, no one can argue Fraser’s standing as one of the nation’s greatest-ever Olympians.
5. Betty Cuthbert’s three gold medals
When: Melbourne 1956
Betty Cuthbert was arguably the first female athlete to take to the Australian public’s hearts. Forever regarded as Australia’s ‘golden girl’ of the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. It was at this event where she won gold medals in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 x 100 metre relay, marking her as the first Australian athlete, male or female, to win three golds at a single Olympic game.
Only 18 at the time, she was a relative unknown outside of fellow athletes on the Australian team. After her heroics, she became a household name forever etched in Australian Olympic history. A brief retirement stint ended at the 1964 Tokyo Games where she claimed gold for a fourth time.
4. Steven Bradbury
When: Salt Lake City 2002
Few Olympic golds have ever been as dramatic as Steve Bradbury’s in the 1000 metres speed skating, short-track final at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Bradbury, a surprise finalist, was given Buckley’s chance of victory before the race. His odds were even slimmer when it kicked off and he was tracking well behind the field. What followed beguiles belief; Bradbury’s four rivals collided, sprawling across the ice and paving a cluttered path for Bradbury to stroll through, like on a Sunday stroll, for the unlikeliest of victories.
Such were his heroics, was was later dubbed ‘The Accidental Hero’.
3. Australia’s unbelievable 4×100 swim relay heroics
When: Sydney 2000
Before the final of the 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay at the Sydney Olympics, US swimmer Gary Hall Jr brashly declared: ‘We’re going to smash them like guitars.’
Wasn’t he made to eat his words! Together, Michael Klim, Chris Fydler and Ashley Callus kept Australia in the hunt over the relay’s first three legs. But it was the final leg, pitting Hall against Ian Thorpe, when the inconceivable happened and the ‘Thorpedo’ overcame a half a body length deficit to claim the gold from defeat’s clutches.
Australia celebrated poolside by playing air guitar, a not-so-subtle jab at the confident America’s pre-race prediction. Not only one of Australia’s greatest Olympic achievements, but this victory is also one of the country’s finest-ever sporting moments.
2. Peter Norman’s brave stand
When: Mexico City 1968
Peter Norman’s finest Olympic hour mightn’t have yielded a coveted gold medal. No, it was so much more than that, etching his name in the memories of millions as a participant in one of history’s most iconic sporting moments.
Finishing second in the 200 metre final of the track and field event in an Australian record time that still stands today, Norman stood bravely on the Olympic podium donning an Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badge. Either side of him stood American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos wore black gloves and raised one fist in the air – a known Black Panther Party salute – in a powerful gesture amidst a tense social climate.
Sadly, not everyone in Australia took kindly to this. Norman was essentially ostracised from the Australian Olympic team, despite winning a silver medal, and never competed for them again.
1. Cathy Freeman wins gold in the 400m
When: Sydney 2000
You don’t have to be Australian to appreciate the greatness of this moment. Cathy Freeman had the weight of a nation’s expectations on her shoulders when she lined up for the 400 metres at the Sydney Olympics.
What followed the starting gun sounding is a pantheonic Australian sporting achievement that might never be beaten. For 49.11 seconds, Freeman and the wind became one, her movements elegant and effortless, determination etched across her face, her opponents helpless
Draped in an Indigenous and Australian flag, the vision of Freeman’s victory lap will forever be shown not only because it perfectly encapsulates what it means to be an Australian athlete, but also an Australian.
Conclusion
There you have it, the top 10 Australian moments at all the Olympic games. Do you agree with our choices?
