CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Australia is celebrating today, after surpassing the country’s greatest ever Olympics medal haul in a glorious hot streak overnight.
With 18 gold medals, we are now closer than we’ve ever been to the ‘full carton’
Perth-based Sailor Matt ‘Wearn Dog’ Wearn went back-to-back to win a nail-biting men’s dinghy final that was restarted after it was initially abandoned close to the finish, and Gold Coast boy Keegan Palmer nabbed his second gold in two Olympics for Skateboarding.
The medals kept rolling in when the Aussies took to the velodrome, with the men’s team sneaking past the dorks from Great Britain — this was followed by Nina Kennedy winning the nation’s first gold for women’s pole vault to bring the tally to 18.
Australia’s previous record for Olympic gold medals was 17, first at Athens in 2004 and then Tokyo three years ago.
The silver and bronze is also piling up with the ‘Pride Of Allora’ Matt Denny achieving Australia’s first podium finish for discuss.
The big fella walked way with bronze after he briefly held the gold medal spot, pushing within 4cms of his personal best on his second effort.
But this is not the end of it. Several Aussies remain firmly in medla contention as our humble backwater nation of 26 million continues to remain in the top three of Olympic medal tally.
Even as the games enters the notorious ‘second week’ that usually sees Australia tumble down the rankings, it seems the swimming events were just a taste of what we had in store.
The nation’s current standing of 18 gold, 12 silver, and 11 bronze – still has room to move, as our nation edges ever-closer to the upper-echelon of elite sporting performances.
While per capita Australia is the number one sporting nation in the world, the elusive ‘full carton’ remains the goal. 24 Gold medals.
The same amount of golds that you get in a carton of XXXX mid-strength. Can we do it?
It’s looking more likely than ever.
