Australia has competed in swimming at the Summer Olympics since the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, after only sending a runner, Edwin Flack, to the 1896 Summer Olympics. Frederick Lane was Australia's sole swimming representative at the 1900 Games, winning two individual gold medals. Women's events were added at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm; Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie, Australia's first female representatives, won gold and silver in the 100-metre freestyle, which was the first women's event on the program. At the 1908 Summer Olympics and the 1912 Summer Olympics, Australia competed as Australasia, sending a combined team with New Zealand. The table includes Malcolm Champion, a New Zealander who was part of the 4×200-metre freestyle relay team that captured gold in 1912. [1]
Australia has won a total of 71 gold medals in the sport, second only to the United States, who have won 257. East Germany is in third place with 38 golds, although this is widely attributed to state-sponsored systematic doping programs. [2] [3]
Swimming is Australia's most prolific Olympic sport, having been responsible for 71 of Australia's 167 Olympic gold medals. In addition, a list of the top 100 Australian Olympians of all time, compiled by the Australian Olympic Committee, named 35 swimmers in the top 100, more than any other sport. Swimmers have been given the honour of carrying the Australian flag six times in twelve at the closing ceremony, which is traditionally reserved for the most successful athlete of the delegation. [4] [5]
Australia's strongest-ever performance in swimming was at the 1956 Olympics on home soil in Melbourne. Australia claimed eight of the thirteen gold medals available, including both relays and a clean sweep of the medals in the 100-metre freestyle, considered the blue-riband event for both men and women. This is the only time that Australia has topped the medal tally in swimming, and the tally of gold medals was not surpassed until Australia won 9 at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, when the swimming program had expanded to its current 35 events. [1]
Australia has been most successful in the freestyle discipline, with 37 of the 58 golds coming in the stroke. Eight of the gold have come from the men's 1500-metre freestyle, the most victories in the event by any country, which has resulted in the event being dubbed "Australia's race" by Australian commentators. Australia's first medal outside of freestyle did not come until 1932 when Clare Dennis and Bonnie Mealing won gold and silver in the 200-metre breaststroke and 100-metre backstroke respectively. It was not until John Davies' victory in the 200-metre breaststroke in 1952 that a male swimmer had won a medal outside of freestyle. Backstroke is Australia's weakest discipline, with David Theile's two consecutive golds in the 100-metre backstroke being the only victories in the discipline until Kaylee McKeown's double golds in Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. [1] [6]
The following table includes only medals won by Australian swimmers in individual events.
The following table includes all those who have won medals, including as part of relay teams. Since 1984, swimmers who participated in the preliminary heats but not in the final were awarded medals if the final team went on to claim a medal, whereas those prior to 1984 did not. Those who swam in the heats only are marked with an asterisk, multiple times if multiple medals were awarded for swimming in heats only. Malcolm Champion, a member of the 4×200-metre freestyle relay team in 1912, was a New Zealander, competing as part of the combined Australasia team. His teammates in the combined relay team were Cecil Healy, Les Boardman, and Harold Hardwick. [1]
Mark Anthony Kerry is an Australian former backstroke and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won three Olympic medals, including a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Summer Olympics as the backstroker for the Quietly Confident Quartet. During his career, he won twelve Australian Championships.
Mark Lyndon Tonelli, whose birth name was Mark Lyndon Leembruggen, is an Australian former backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold in the 4×100-metre medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a makeshift butterfly swimmer in the self-named Quietly Confident Quartet. Tonelli unofficially led the relay team and was an athletes' spokesperson who fought for the right of Australian Olympians to compete in the face of a government call for a boycott to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The Quietly Confident Quartet was the self-given name of the Australian men's 4 × 100 metres medley relay swimming team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and, through the 2016 Olympics, the Australian victory remains the only occasion the United States has not won the event at Olympic level since its inception in 1960. The quartet consisted of backstroker Mark Kerry, breaststroker Peter Evans, butterflyer Mark Tonelli, and freestyler Neil Brooks. The team was nominally led by its oldest member Tonelli, who was 23 and was also a spokesperson for the Australian athletes' campaign for their right to compete at the Olympics against the wishes of the Fraser government. The team was seen as an unlikely prospect to win; all four of the swimmers had clashed with swimming authorities over disciplinary issues and three experienced suspension or expulsion from the Australian team during their careers.
The men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 1980 Summer Olympics was held in Moscow, Soviet Union on 24 July 1980 in the Olympiski Sports Complex. A total of 13 teams participated in the event. These were split over two heats held in the morning of that day, and the eight fastest teams qualified for the finals held in the evening of the same day.
Emily Jane Seebohm, OAM is an Australian swimmer and television personality. She has appeared at four Olympic Games between 2008 and 2021; and won three Olympic gold medals, five world championship gold medals and seven Commonwealth Games gold medals.
Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event.
Francesca Jean Halsall is a retired English competitive swimmer who has represented Great Britain at the Olympics, FINA world championships, and European championships, and England at the Commonwealth Games. She competed primarily in freestyle and butterfly events.
Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games, held by gymnast Alexander Dityatin, by winning six gold and two bronze medals. Four years later, when he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.
Jérémy Stravius is a French swimmer, swimming freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly.
Bronte Campbell is a Malawian-born Australian competitive swimmer, a dual Olympic gold-medal winner and world champion. Her older sister, Cate, is also a competitive swimmer, and once held world records in both the short and long course 100 metre individual freestyle events. Bronte and Cate are the first Australian siblings on the same Olympic swimming team since the 1972 Olympics and the first Australian sisters ever to compete within the same swimming event at the Olympics. Bronte Campbell won three gold medals at the 2015 World Championships, including the 50 and 100 metre freestyle events.
Emma Jennifer McKeon, is an Australian competitive swimmer. She is an eight-time world record holder, three current and five former, in relays. Her total career haul of 11 Olympic medals following the 2020 Olympic Games made her Australia's most decorated Olympian and included one gold medal from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and four gold medals from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. With four gold and three bronze medals she was the most decorated athlete across all sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and tied for the most medals won by a woman in a single Olympic Games. She has also won 20 medals, including five gold medals, at the World Aquatics Championships; and a record 20 medals, including 14 gold, at the Commonwealth Games.
Abbigail "Abbey" Weitzeil is an American competition swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle. A multiple time Olympic medalist, she won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay for swimming in the preliminary heats and a silver medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay and a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, swimming in the final of both events. She is the American record holder in the 50-yard freestyle and is part of the American Record in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Marrit Steenbergen is a Dutch competitive swimmer. She won gold medals in the 100 m and 200 m freestyle events at the 2022 European Championships held in Rome, Italy.
Duncan William MacNaughton Scott is a Scottish swimmer representing Great Britain at the FINA World Aquatics Championships, LEN European Aquatics Championships, European Games and the Olympic Games, and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Scott made history after winning four medals - more than any other British athlete at a single Olympic Games - in Tokyo 2020, simultaneously becoming Great Britain's most decorated swimmer in Olympic history.
Madison Maree Wilson, is an Australian competitive swimmer who has participated in backstroke and freestyle events at the Olympic Games and the FINA world championships. Wilson has been a member of six world record Australian relay teams, most recently at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
Evgeny Mikhailovich Rylov is a Russian competitive swimmer and Olympic champion specializing in backstroke events. He won three gold medals at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, and a bronze medal at his senior international debut at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan. He also won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, both were in the 200 metre backstroke event. In 2018, at the 2018 World Short Course Championships, he won gold medals in the 200 metre backstroke and 50 metre backstroke. At the 2019 World Championships, he won a gold medal in the 200 metre backstroke, silver medal in the 100 metre backstroke, and silver medal in the 50 metre backstroke. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre backstroke and 200 metre backstroke at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Taylor Madison Ruck is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She won two Olympic bronze medals as part of Canada's women's 4×100 metre and 4×200 metre freestyle relay teams at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Ruck won eight medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Her eight medal performance of one gold, five silver, and two bronze tied her with three other athletes for the most all-time at a single Commonwealth Games, as well as making her the most decorated Canadian female athlete ever at a single Commonwealth Games. Ruck is the all-time leading medallist at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships having won nine gold, two silver, and two bronze over the course of the 2015 and 2017 editions.
Kyle Chalmers, is an Australian competitive swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 100 metre freestyle, 4×100 metre medley relay, and long course 4×100 metre mixed freestyle relay. He is the Oceanian and Australian record holder in the short course 50 metre butterfly and 50 metre freestyle.
Blake John Pieroni is a three-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He is a two time Olympian and gold medalist in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at both the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics. On the relay in 2016, he swam in the prelims of the race, on the 2020 Olympics 4×100-meter freestyle relay he swam in both the prelims and the final. He also won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay at the 2020 Olympic Games, swimming the freestyle leg of the relay in the prelims.
Andrey Dmitriyevich Minakov is a Russian swimmer and Olympian. He is the Russian record holder in the long course 100 metre butterfly. He is a former world junior record holder in the long course and short course 50 metre butterfly and long course 100 metre freestyle. At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, he won silver medals in the 100 metre butterfly and 4×100 metre freestyle relay, and a bronze medal in the 4×100 metre medley relay. In 2021, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, he placed fourth in the 100 metre butterfly, fourth in the 4×100 metre medley relay, seventh in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, and tenth in the 100 metre freestyle. He also won two gold medals, one silver medal, and three bronze medals at the 2021 World Short Course Championships. In 2022, he won the NCAA title in the 100 yard butterfly.