Paris 2024, Oceania Recap: Has There Been A Shuffle Among The Greatest Australian Olympians?

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

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• Oceania Recap, Day 1: Chalmers On ‘King Kyle’ Form After Tough Run Up to Paris
• Oceania Recap, Day 3: Mollie O’Callaghan Goes From Prelims-Only Relay Swimmer to Olympic Champ in Three Years
• Oceania Recap, Day 4: Kaylee McKeown Becomes 2nd Woman to Defend Olympic Gold In 100 Backstroke
• Oceanian Recap, Day 5: Kyle Chalmers Joins Rare Air By Medalling In Third Straight Olympic 100 Freestyle
• Oceanian Recap, Day 6: New Zealand Women Make Their First Olympic Relay Final
• Oceanian Recap, Day 7: Kaylee McKeown Is The First Female Backstroker To Complete the Olympic Double-Double
• Oceanian Recap, Day 8: Ariarne Titmus Closes Out Olympics With Her Best Swim Of The Games

The Australian quartet of Kaylee McKeown, Jenna Strauch, Emma McKeon, and Mollie O’Callaghan ended Australia’s meet strongly, taking silver in the women’s 4×100 medley relay. It was a historic medal for McKeon, who has now earned 14 Olympic medals in her career, which ties her with Katie Ledecky for the most by a female swimmer.

Over the nine-day meet, several Australian women have had sensational meets, which begs the question: when we’re thinking about the greatest Australian Olympians, have McKeown, McKeon, O’Callaghan, or Titmus had strong enough performances in Paris that the all-time list should be reshuffled?

Emma McKeon

Emma McKeon assumed her place as the most decorated Australian Olympian after her exceptional Tokyo Games, winning seven medals. While she was not as dominant in Paris, she still picked up three medals–one of each color–which extended her lead and brought her medal count to an incredible 14 total. 

Most Decorated Olympians 

1. Michael Phelps, Swimming: 23 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze — 28 total
2. Larisa Latynina, Gymnastics: 9 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze — 18 total
3. Marit Bjorgen, Cross-country skiing: 8 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze — 15 total
4. Nikolai Andrianov, Gymnastics: 7 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze — 15 total
5. Katie Ledecky, Swimming: 9 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze — 14 total
6. Emma McKeon, Swimming: 6 gold, 3 silver, 5 bronze — 14 total

Her gold medal as part of the Australian women’s 4×100 freestyle relay gave her six career golds, which moved her out of a tie with Ian Thorpe for most career Olympic golds by an Australian at a summer Games. This is it for the 30-year-old McKeon as she’s already announced her intention to retire from the sport. 

These Games were a strong way to end her career, which she finished by swimming butterfly in the 4×100 medley relay where the Australian women won silver. McKeon has had plenty of individual success at the Games, but her Paris medal haul being all relays illustrates how key she’s been to reenergizing Australian swimming. 

Kaylee McKeown

23-year-old Kaylee McKeown became the first female backstroker to win the 100 and 200 backstroke at back-to-back Olympic Games, a swimming double-double. Regan Smith reclaimed the 100 backstroke world record at the U.S. Olympic Trials before the Games, but McKeown has proven time and time again that she can step up in the big moments.

In Paris, she stepped up to the tune of two Olympic records, tying her Oceanian record in the 100 backstroke in 57.33 and swimming 2:03.73 in the 200 backstroke. In the 100 backstroke, she became the second woman to win consecutive Olympic golds, matching Natalie Coughlin. Her wins also continue her gold-medal streak in backstroke events at major international meets. Aside from the greatest Australian Olympic athlete, McKeown, who held all three backstroke world records from October 2023 to June 2024, has a serious case for greatest backstroker in history.

She has five career Olympic gold medals, four of which are from individual events. That’s the most individual golds by an Australian swimmer at an Olympic Games.

After winning defending her double backstroke gold, McKeown also won bronze in the most anticipated race of the meet, the women’s 200 IM. She pulled off tough doubles with her individual and relay events and picked up two relay medals to go with her three from individual events.

Mollie O’Callaghan

At 17-years-old, Mollie O’Callaghan played her role in Tokyo, helping the Australian relays earn finals berths. Those efforts earned her three Olympic medals: two gold, and one bronze. 

O’Callaghan has fully broken out in the three years since Tokyo. She’s emerged as one of the top threats in the 100 and 200 freestyle, becoming the first to win both at a World Championships in 2023. She broke Federica Pelligrini‘s legendary 200 freestyle world record at that championships as well. 

So, even though Titmus snatched that world record, O’Callaghan arrived in Paris with plenty of expectations on her shoulders, both in her individual events and as an integral part of Australia’s relays. She missed the podium in the 100 free by .01 seconds, but other than that, O’Callaghan shone. She dethroned Titmus in the 200 freestyle with a new Olympic record and earned two more golds on Australia’s freestyle relays. On the medley relay to close out the meet, she fired off a 51.83 split, one of the fastest 100 free splits of the Games. 

Now 20, O’Callaghan already has eight Olympic medals. Only one is an individual medal, which likely hurts her case in the all-time rankings, but you can also make the argument that without O’Callaghan, some of those relays would not have won gold. Wherever you fall in that debate, the fact that O’Callaghan is already in this conversation at her age is impressive. And it seems like she’s only just getting started. 

Ariarne Titmus

Titmus started the Games off strong, becoming just the second woman to defend Olympic gold in the 400 freestyle. In a rematch between her, Summer McIntosh, and Ledecky, Titmus was once again able to shake off her two biggest competitors and make it clear that in the 400 freestyle, she is the woman to beat. 

At her second Olympics, Titmus matched her medal count from Tokyo, once again earning four medals. In addition to her 400 freestyle win, she anchored the 4×200 freestyle relay to the win in an Olympic record and took silver behind O’Callaghan in the individual 200 free. But even with her two gold medals, it’s her 800 freestyle silver that stands out. In that race, she pushed Ledecky for longer than many expected and was still able to hold off a charging Paige Madden. Titmus closed out her meet with a new Oceanian record in the event. 

Of these four impressive women, Titmus has the most individual Olympic medals with six (McKeown owns the most individual golds). When we start talking about the “greatest” of any measure in sport, there’s always subjectivity. It creeps into swimming on these lists unless you’re purely judging by medal counts. But whoever you think the greatest Australian Olympic swimmers are, your top five likely already include one of these women. And the three that aren’t hanging up their goggles could continue to shuffle the list with their future performances. 

Day 8 Quick Hits

• Meg Harris won silver in the women’s 50 freestyle behind world record holder Sarah Sjostrom. Harris earned the medal in a lifetime best 23.97, which marks her first outing under the 24-second barrier.
• Isaac Cooper, Joshua Yong, Matt Temple, and Kyle Chalmers teamed up to finish sixth in the men’s medley relay with a final time of 3:31.86.
• Australia finishes second on the overall medal table after getting passed by the United States for total gold in the last event of the competition. Over the nine-day meet, Australia won seven golds, eight silvers, and three bronze medals for 18 medals overall.

Final Oceanian Medal Table