Team Australia - Profile

Highlights:

Australia won eight gold medals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, equalling its total from London four years earlier. The NOC's gold medal haul in Rio included one from the women's rugby sevens team, which beat New Zealand 24-17 in the final to secure victory in the sport's Olympic debut.

Australia made its first Olympic appearance in 1896, and hosted the Games in 1956 in Melbourne and in 2000 in Sydney. The NOC has had most success in swimming at the Olympic Games, and has also been historically strong in athletics, track cycling, rowing, and sailing.

Swimmer Ian Thorpe is the only Australian athlete to have won five gold medals. He claimed three gold medals and two silver medals as a 17-year-old at the 2000 Games in Sydney, and became known around the world as 'Thorpedo'. He added two gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal at the 2004 Games in Athens to take his total Olympic medal haul to nine. Female swimmer Leisel Jones matched Thorpe's tally of nine Olympic medals at the 2012 Games in London. She claimed a total of three gold medals, five silver medals and one bronze medal between 2000 and 2012.

One of Australia's most high-profile results in recent years came in athletics at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where Cathy Freeman claimed gold in the women's 400m in front of more than 112,000 spectators. The NOC's most successful competitor in athletics is Shirley Strickland, who won a total of seven medals [three gold, one silver, three bronze] in sprint events and hurdles between 1948 and 1956.

Anna Meares is Australia's most successful track cyclist, winning gold in the women's 500m time trial at the 2004 Games in Athens and triumphing in the sprint eight years later in London. She also won one silver medal and three bronze medals over the course of her Olympic career, with her most recent podium finish coming in the keirin at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. The Australian male track cyclist with the most medals is Bradley McGee, who won one gold medal, one silver medal, and three bronze medals between 1996 and 2004.

In team sports, the men's and women's hockey squads have claimed 12 medals in total between them. The women have three gold medals [1988, 1996, 2000] while the men have one [2004]. The Australian women's basketball team finished on the podium at each edition of the Olympic Games between 1996 and 2012 - winning three silver medals and two bronze medals - but lost to the United States of America in either the semifinals or the final on all five occasions.

Anthem Title: Advance Australia Fair

Anthem Composer: Words and music by Peter Dodds McCormick [words were slightly changed in 1984 and 2021].

Anthem Inducted: 1984

Official NOC Name: Australian Olympic Committee

Founding Date: 1895

IOC Recognition Date: 1895

Delegation President: John Coates

Delegation Secretary General: Matt Carroll

IOC Members: John D Coates [entry in the IOC: 2001], James Tomkins [entry in the IOC: 2013], Phillip Walter Coles [entry in the IOC: 1982], Richard Kevan Gosper [entry in the IOC: 1977]

First OG/PG Appearance: 1896

Number OG/PG Appearances: 27 [Tokyo 2020 included]

Summary: