As the 2024 Summer Olympics ended in Paris on Sunday, 11 August, Team Australia wrapped up its most successful Games ever with our local Olympians making their mark. Saya Sakakibara of Helensburgh won Australia’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in BMX Racing and Wollongong’s Jessica Hull won a sensational silver in the women’s 1500m, becoming the first Australian woman ever to win an Olympic medal in the event.

A record-breaking Olympic campaign

After two weeks of competition, Australia finished fourth overall in the medal tally with a total of 53 medals: 18 gold, 19 silver and 16 bronze. The fifty-three medals beat the previous record of 50 medals set at the Summer Olympics in Athens 2004, and 18 gold medals surpass the record of 17 gold medals from the Athens 2004 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“This is a special team,” says Australian Olympic Team’s Chef de Mission Anna Meares. “We all know it’s hard to be selected on the Australian team, let alone win a medal or become an Olympic champion. It takes dedication to excellence over years, not just here in Paris. So, to the member sports, thank you and to the athletes, we are very proud of you.”

The original Team Australia increased in size from 460 to 467 athletes because of additions due to injury replacements.

BMX Racing-gold, a first for Australia

The Tokyo Summer Olympics became synonymous with heartache for Saya Sakakibara, after she crashed out in the semi-finals. Three years later in Paris, 24-year-old Sakakibara not only got on the podium but took home Australia’s first-ever BMX Racing Olympic gold medal.

“I’ve run out of tears,” she said to the Australian Olympic Committee after the medal ceremony.

“I just wanted to leave here having enjoyed the experience and having put everything out there, and be able to look back on the videos of my performance and be like ‘yeah I’m proud of that’ and I definitely did.”

In an epic performance over two days, Sakakibara won all her three heats in the quarter-finals and all three semi-finals before nailing the final.

She produced her trademark speed out of the start gate and never looked back, landing the gold ahead of Nederland’s Manon Veenstra and Switzerland’s Zoé Claessens.

Historic silver in the 1,500m event

Jessica Hull delivered a stunning silver medal after an amazing 1500m final. 

“I thought, I just want to run for gold and if I miss, I hope I get a medal,” Hull said afterwards to the Australian Olympic Committee. 

Kenyan world record holder, and one of the all-time greats, Faith Kipyegon, was the clear-out favourite to the gold. But 27-year-old Hull put in an incredible sprint to win silver with a finishing time of 3:52.56, becoming the first Australian woman to medal in the 1500m event at the Olympics.

“I’m just excited to be part of history. And I think I might have opened the floodgates for the junior girls back home that are running the 1500,” she added.

Watch parties, coffee and woolly jumpers

AOC’s Anna Meares continued to thank the support team, i.e. the volunteers and the staff at the Australian Olympic Committee, before extending a thank you to everyone supporting back home.

“The time difference did not deter Australians. Channel Nine’s TV ratings show more than 19 million Australians watched the Games with some 9 million tuning in each day to see our Team compete,” she says.

“There were more than 500 live sites back home and thousands of watch parties. That’s a lot of coffee and woolly jumpers.”

On Wednesday morning, 14 August, the Olympic team will return to Australian soil.

However, the Summer Olympics are hardly over. On August 28, the Paralympics kick off with over 11 days of competition. Be sure to tune in and bring out the green and gold once again!

For a full recap of our local Olympians’ results, please refer to the next print issue on 24 August.

Welcome Home celebrations

Throughout September and October, there will be several ‘Welcome Home’ celebrations together with members of the Australian Paralympic Team throughout the country: