For about two weeks every four years athletes from around the world gather to compete on the grandest of stages.

The Olympics draws people from the four corners of the globe together in a celebration of sport. Over 200 nations sent athletes to the 2024 Paris Olympics — from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and all stops in between.

Australia is one of two nations to be represented in one form or another at every single Summer Olympic Games. Due to Australia’s location in the world and its strong investment in sport, it tends to be more represented than almost any other country.

This year 460 Australian Olympians pulled on the green and gold in Paris (or around the rest of France) in their quest for gold. These athletes came from all across this wide brown land, all united with one goal.

Australia tends to be more represented than most other countries on a per capita – or per person – basis. 

Those 460-odd people that make up the 2024 Australian Olympic team all have fascinating stories of triumph and tragedy before they even make it to the starting line.

This year’s team was made up of people from all over — from the country right to the inner city, and even overseas.

Each dot on the map represents the start of the story for one of the Australian Olympians, from the skyscraper streets of inner city Sydney to the remote reaches of Mt Isa.

This is the geographical story of the Australian Olympic team for not only 2024, but also the last 120 years of Australia’s participation in the Summer Olympics.

The 2024 Olympic team of origin

Outside of the Olympics and the major footy code grand finals, few sporting events are held higher than State of Origin. That seemingly timeless battle between the Blues and Maroons truly pits state against state, and mate against mate.

The Olympic team doesn’t divide like that, but states still get proud of their own products. Each state has an institute of sport, and proud pathways for producing future champions.

New South Wales has produced the largest part of the Australian Olympic Team this year, in line with their place as Australia’s biggest state. That’s typical for Australian teams of recent years. The last time NSW didn’t produce the most Olympic athletes was 1996, when Victoria briefly held the top spot.

Over the years Australian Olympians have come from near and far. Overseas born Australians have contributed significantly at the Olympics over the years, with some of Australia’s most prominent Olympians getting their start overseas.

Success at the Olympics comes in many forms. Making the start line in itself is a huge achievement for any athlete, and often enough to justify the years of hard graft.

Some of our Olympians have higher bars – to make a final or even snag a medal of various metallic shades. While a medal isn’t the only measure of success, it’s certainly a sign that public acclaim is set to follow.

This Olympics the medal count sees Queensland sit on top with 11 gold medallists born there. This tally includes individual athletes that make up a part of a team. When adjusting for the population of each state or territory, it’s plucky Tasmania whose haul edges out in front, thanks largely to the efforts of Ariarne Titmus.

Overseas born stars — such as the Fox sisters, Keegan Palmer and Bronte Campbell — also contributed significantly to Australia’s record Paris haul.

Tasmania also leads the all-time per capita haul, with athletes from the Apple Isle punching well above their weight. Hockey players such as Eddie Ockenden and Matt Wells have racked up multiple medals for Tasmania, alongside rowers such as Duncan Free and Simon Burgess.

As with Tasmania, it often takes a bit to get noticed if you are from the NT, but those who end up getting picked for Australia tend to over perform the rest of the country by a fair margin.

Half of the 24 Olympians who have been born in the NT have won Olympic medals. This list of NT medallists is led by swimming superstar Leisel Jones and her three medal haul. The latest addition to this list is newly minted “Rose Gold” medallist Steph Talbot of the Opals basketball team.

State against state, mate against mate

However, as anyone who has watched State of Origin knows, state allegiance is not just about where you’re born. For State of Origin, it sometimes means a Greg Inglis or Ken Nagas might play for another state. At Olympic time multiple states might try to claim the same athlete.

Take Queensland for example. The Queensland Institute of Sport boasts of 160 Queenslanders at the Olympics — far more than the 86 born in Queensland. In addition, the Commonwealth Minister for Sport Anika Wells has said this week that Queensland’s medal contributions to the Olympics are “further proof that Queensland is the best country in the world”.

In short, they’re claiming anyone who happens to be based there too.

Queensland is a magnet for relocated athletes, with the country’s largest contingent of athletes born elsewhere, whether overseas or another Australian state.

Queensland’s magnetism makes the state particularly adept at claiming athletes as their own, perhaps matched only by the zeal of Canberrans for claiming local heroes. The Canberra Times last week proudly reported that there were 27 Canberra athletes competing, including a bevy of AIS-based athletes and anyone playing for Canberra’s A-League Women’s side and WNBL teams.

The ‘Gold’ Coast

It’s not just the entire state of Queensland that’s a magnet for Olympians. It turns out that a much maligned sporting city, frequently called a “graveyard” for sport by those focused on team sports, is in fact the country’s biggest hotspot for Olympian home towns.

About 30 athletes at Paris call the Gold Coast/Tweed Heads area home. That’s well above that of Australia’s other biggest cities. It’s also nearly twice the per capita Olympic representation of their closest rival down the road, the state capital of Brisbane.

Sporting clusters

It’s not just in success that each state differs in its Olympic journey, but also in what sports are most common to them.

When looking at our current and former Olympians, patterns begin to emerge on which areas are hotbeds for different pursuits.

This year it seems clear that our swimmers tend to call Queensland home. That includes people that were born elsewhere and moved to the state to further their careers.

Conversely, those who vied for Rugby Sevens success were mostly from New South Wales. Further south in Victoria was a host of sports shooters and track and field stars — with 36 per cent of our athletics team coming from the Big V.

Other sports have hotspots tied to broader sporting administrations. South Australia is home to AusCycling – a potential reason that it is a hotbed for our current cycling crop.