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A heartfelt and boisterous reception at Sydney Airport for the 460 athletes who represented Australia at the Paris Olympics.
“We’re actually feeling very emotional because to see them celebrated like this is actually for the family. So special.”
“I mean Best Olympics yet. So I’m pretty proud of the whole team, amazing efforts and yeah, good to have them back on home soil.”
“I’m the mother of Grae Morris. He is an iQFOiL wind surfer. He’s 20 years age and he just got the silver medal – and it’s his first Olympics. And I’m so proud of him.”
Coach Rebecca Rippon led the national women’s water polo team – the Aussie Stingers – to a silver medal at Paris.
At Sydney Airport, her nieces were there to greet her, along with their father.
They say it has been exciting to watch the Olympics – and how years of dedication has resulted in the medal outcome.
“Oh, we’re so happy to see her. She did such a good job and she’s really inspiring us.”
“Definitely. We’re so proud of how they went.”
“Oh, that’s their dream and it’s up to them to push themselves and make it there on their own. It is very good. It’s very good. We’re very proud of my sister Beck, she’s the coach of the Stingers. And what she’s done with them in the past six months has been amazing. To come home with the silver medal. Everyone’s super proud of her and the team.”
There has also been a welcome brigade for Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke, who did not win a medal, but showed her grit when she raced with an injury.
She fell on her third hurdle during the heat in her event – but her supporters say they couldn’t be prouder.
“Shelly had a very brave run at the Olympics. She fell in her heat sadly, but she stood back up and she ran in the repechage round with a completely torn hamstring tendon. So as much as we hope she had a nice trip, we do love her and we’re so proud.”
“And she is as Aussie as it gets. She got back up after she fell and she finished the race. And she turned up and had a crack; and that’s all she can do.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined Governor-General Sam Mostyn in congratulating the athletes.
“And as the athletes went down the stairs there, not everyone had a medal around their neck. But every single one of them was worth their weight in gold. Every single one of them has done our country proud.”
Swimmer and silver medallist Meg Harris says it is wonderful to see the show of support.
“I’m overwhelmed actually. I mean, sorry, I’ve lost my voice, but I mean we didn’t get this (reception) in Tokyo. And I mean this is more than anything we could have asked for. We wanted to come back and celebrate with Australia – and they turned up!”
Draped in five medals, fellow swimmer Kaylee McKeown has said she is exhausted but happy.
“Two golds, a silver and two bronze medals. It means the world. But to be honest with you, if I came home with no medals, I’d still be proud of myself. It’s not every day you can call yourself an Olympian. And this stuff is just bonus. And like I said, we’ve just trained so hard to get to this point in our lives, so I’m happy that it’s all paid off.”
Australia finished fourth on the medal tally in these Paris Games – behind the US, China and Japan – with a national record of 18 gold medals.
Female athletes won 13 of those.
14-year-old Arisa Trew became Australia’s youngest ever Olympic medallist after winning gold in the women’s park skateboarding.
While Jess Fox’s two gold medals in Paris means she has become the most decorated canoe slalom paddler, male or female, in Olympic history.
She says the excitement will last for some time.
“To be part of that, bringing home a couple goals is wonderful. And I don’t think we realised the impact that we had back home, but to come home now and be able to celebrate with everyone. And thank them for their support is really special.”
Dr Richard Baka is the co-founder of Melbourne’s Victoria University Olympic and Paralympic Research Centre.
He says this year’s result is Australia’s best ever for an overseas Olympic Games – but the sky is the limit for the future.
“On a per capita basis – and also the size of the population, Australia ranks right up there. We’re in the top five now. And it’ll be sustained. I think we’ll stay up there at least to 2032. There’ll be a groundswell of interest. I’m sure some of the medals we won will spur young people that are not quite at Olympics performance level now, but in eight years they will be. I think it’s just been an amazing time.”
The 1976 Montreal Games was the low point of Australia’s Olympic experience.
Despite a team of 184 athletes [[149 men and 35 women]], none returned with a gold medal – and only five medals were won: one silver and four bronze.
That led to the creation of the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra to focus on high performance training and coaching.
Dr Baka says funding will be the critical issue for the future – including Brisbane in 2032.
“The Commonwealth government announced 200-something million. It’s still not a great amount of money on the big scheme of things, and those athletes do it really hard. So I think we need to look at the funding model and is it some combination of the federal government money, is it a new sports lottery? Is it something like taxing the gambling that we have in Australia? Is it just more private benefactors like Gina Reinhardt? Is there something we can do there; and make it a pool that comes from a number of different sources? I think that’ll be something the researchers, the Australian Institute of Sport, and the Sports Commission and the governments at different levels, and I think they need to look at that. How can we take it and make it consistent across the board to help athletes as much as we can?”
Vaughan Cruickshank is a senior lecturer in health and physical education at the University of Tasmania.
He says the funding of sports science is important – because it’s encouraged innovation.
“And then I think Australia’s always been really good at actually applying sort of sports science and different technology. So Swimming Australia is one of the forefront. They were one of the first ones to actually have underwater cameras in their pool so they could get different data from. And they’ve used a lot more of that; and even starting to use AI much more. So other things that have come out quite recently: an enhanced wellbeing focus. So all major Australian sporting bodies have committed to what’s called Win Well 2032. Which is basically ensuring that all those sporting organisations are committed to actually supporting athlete mental, emotional sort of health and wellbeing.”
There will be more opportunities to set records and win medals, with 160 Australian athletes set to compete in Paris at the Paralympics from August 28.
Homecoming celebrations are also being planned for the capital cities around Australia over the next month or two.
In the meantime, Chef de mission Anna Meares says Australia’s Paris Games result will inspire a generation of children to dream of competing on home soil in Brisbane 2032.
“I believe in our Brisbane organising committee; and I know that they’ll work hard in the next eight years to put on a great games. And I hope that Australia and Brisbane will come together and work towards that same goal. All the criticisms that happened leading into Paris, the comments around the risks that they took around the opening ceremony, being on the [[River]] Seine. You’ve got to take risks, you’ve got to challenge yourselves – just as the athletes have. And I really look forward to how we can showcase Australia, how we can showcase our spirit, our character, our history, our culture. And they’re the things that I want to be able to focus on leading into Brisbane, as well as our athletes and our sports and the competition.”
