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Australian Olympic Firsts
- The FIRST ever Australia gold medalist was
Edwin Flack (athletics) – 2 gold (800m, 1500m), in Athens 1896.
- The FIRST (and only) time animals were killed on purpose in
an Olympic event was in 1900 for the live pigeon shooting
event. An Australian Donald MacIntosh came third with 18 birds killed.
- The FIRST women's swimming gold medal (from any Country) was won by the Australian
Sarah 'Fanny' Durack, who won the 100m freestyle in 1912. She was also the FIRST Australian woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics.
- The FIRST appearance of an Australian athlete at the Winter Olympic Games was at the 1936 Winter Olympics. Australia sent one athlete, Kenneth Kennedy.
- The FIRST Australian women athletes at the Winter Olympics were Figure Skaters Nancy Hallam and Gweneth Molony at Oslo in 1952.
- The FIRST and only athlete (male or female) to win the 100m, 200m (1956) and 400m (1964) at the Olympic Games was Australian Betty Cuthbert.
- The FIRST time Australia hosted the Olympic Games was in Melbourne in 1956. Australia again hosted the Games in Sydney 2000, and will again in Brisbane 2032.
- The FIRST person to represent Australia at both the Winter and Summer Olympics Games was Paul Narracott, in Athletics in 1984
and Bobsleigh in 1992.
- The FIRST medal won by Australia at the Winter Olympics was bronze at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer in the men's short track relay.
- The FIRST Indigenous Australian to win an Olympic medal was swimmer Samantha Riley. She won two bronze and one silver medals at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. She retired from competition in 1996 when Nova Peris and Cathy Freeman were considered our first indigenous Olympic medallists until 2002 when she discovered she found out her great-grandmother was an Aboriginal.
- The FIRST Indigenous Australian to win a gold medal, was Nova Peris in field hockey in 1996.
- The FIRST gold medal by an Australian at the Winter Olympics was the unlikely first place by Steven Bradbury in 1,000 m Short Track event in 2002 at Salt Lake City, when all of the other competitors spectacularly fell over on the last bend (see video).
- The FIRST women's gold medal
for Australia was also in 2002 at Salt Lake City when Alisa Camplin won the Aerials skiing event.
- The FIRST ever Australian indigenous athlete to compete at a Winter Games was male figure skater Harley Windsor in PyeongChang 2018.
- The FIRST Australian to compete in both the summer Olympic and the summer Paralympics was table tennis player Melissa Tapper.
- The FIRST Indigenous Australian to carry the flag into an Olympic Games opening ceremony was Patrick Mills at Tokyo in 2021.
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