Australia

Live: The last remaining athletes prepare to farewell Tokyo at the Olympics closing ceremony


A golden Games for Australia

Ariarne Titmus kickstarted the Games for Australia with her thrilling wins over Katie Ledecky in the 200 and 400m freestyle (AP)

It’s been an amazing Olympics for Australia, with 17 gold, seven silver and 22 bronze for a total of 46 medals.

That figure of 17 gold is Australia’s equal-highest tally in history, matching the Athens Games in 2004.

As expected, if the Olympic campaign was to be a strong one, it had to come off the back of a strong swimming carnival.

Cue the Aussie women – Ariarne Titmus beating US swimming great Katie Ledecky in the 200 and 400 metres freestyle; Emma McKeon claiming four gold – and an equal record seven medals overall – in an astonishing performance.

There was Zac Stubblety-Cook in the 200m breaststroke, Kaylee McKeown’s emotional win – and unforgettable f-drop in her post victory interview in the 100m backstroke, later adding the 200 back for good measure.

There was plenty of relay gold in there as well, including Cate Campbell swimming the anchor leg in the final event, the 4×100 metres medley relay.

Gold came in events old and new – Matt Wearn in the men’s laser in sailing, the men’s 470 crew of Mat Belcher and Will Ryan, and then Keegan Palmer grinning like a mad thing after winning the first men’s park skateboarding and Logan Martin getting a shoutout from the original BMX Bandit, Nicole Kidman, after winning gold in BMX Freestyle.

Then there was Jess Fox in the C1 .. and Jess Fox’s dad, Richard, managing not to break down while calling his daughter’s miss in the K1 days before and then triumph in her final race.  

There was also gold in the men’s and women’s four, bringing two more victories on the water.

It’s been an incredible performance all round – but that is not the only thing we’ve learned from 17 days in Tokyo.



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