Australia is celebrating after surpassing the country’s greatest ever Olympics result with a historic day of gold medals in Paris.
Super sailor Matt Wearn went back-to-back when he held on to win a dramatic men’s dinghy final that was restarted after it was initially abandoned close to the finish, and skateboard star Keegan Palmer also backed up his Tokyo gold in style.
More gold followed at the velodrome when the Aussies won the men’s team pursuit final over fierce Great Britain — and then Nina Kennedy won pole vault gold to bring the tally to 18, surpassing the 17 won at Athens 2004 and Tokyo three years ago.
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Australia finished with 17 gold, 16 silver and 17 bronze in Athens while in Tokyo the haul closed at 17 gold, seven silver and 22 bronze.
The Paris haul consisted of 18 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze after Kennedy’s victory.
“We’re in rare air. All of us. We’ve never had a Games like it,” Bruce McAvaney said on ABC radio.
“Forever and a day Nina Kennedy will be the athlete that took us to 18 gold medals.”
The four golds combined with two bronze — to Matt Denny and walk relay team Jemima Montag and Rhydian Cowley — confirmed Wednesday’s action as Australia’s greatest ever single day at an Olympics.
Speaking before Australia’s third gold medal of the day, Australian chef de mission Anna Meares said: “I feel like I’m going to lose my s*** if we win one more. We have already done something great here.”
The cyclists set the stage for their triumph when they broke the world record in the first round.
In the final, the Australian quartet was behind at 1km, but only by .007 of a second, and led for much of the rest of the race.
“Obviously I’m super happy. I’m just really proud of the team and it’s an awesome battle (with) Great Britain obviously — really happy to be on top,” Kelland O’Brien said.
O’Brien and Sam Welsford had won bronze in the event in Tokyo while Oliver Bleddyn and Conor Leahy were on debut.
Their victory sealed Australia’s first gold medal in Olympic track cycling since Anna Meares, now the country’s chef de mission, beat her British rival Victoria Pendleton in the sprint at London 2012.
The Australian cycling campaign in Paris now boasts three gold medals and two bronze, the second-best Olympics since the six gold won in Athens.
It is also a massive turnaround from Tokyo, when a sole bronze in the men’s team pursuit was the worst Australian haul at the Olympic velodrome since Moscow 1980.
Palmer’s skateboard park gold came 24 hours after 14-year-old Arisa Trew triumphed in the women’s event.
The 21-year-old produced a series of dazzling performances, securing the best qualifying score in the morning on Wednesday before leading in the final from his outstanding opening run.
“It’s a wild, crazy feeling, dude, to be able to say I’m a two-time Olympian, let alone two-time Olympic gold medallist, it’s a crazy, crazy feeling like I literally can’t believe it,” beamed Palmer.
“I’m speechless, to be able to back up Arisa from yesterday is a dream come true. We grew up skating the same park together, Elanora in the Gold Coast. Elanora’s holding it down right now! A hundred per cent, Arisa’s gold was an inspiration for me.”
Palmer’s opening run in the final scored him 93.11 points — three clear of the rest of the field after the first round, even if not as high as his 93.78 in the prelims.
Watched by skateboard legend Tony Hawk, who had also been among the cheering fans who hailed Trew’s display the day earlier, Palmer then bailed out on his second run, while his American best friend Tom Schaar, the eventual silver medallist, came ominously close with his second-round run, scoring 92.23.
But none of his pursuers were able to match the US-based star third time out, as they crashed out while trying to match his score.
Earlier, Wearn won an emotional gold after overcoming a battle with long COVID in 2022 that left doubts about his ability to return to the top of his sport.
“That was tough,” Wearn said.
“There was obviously that moment there where I thought that I wouldn’t be competing again and that I certainly wouldn’t be as strong as I am now.”
He had to work for his triumph, with shifting winds in Marseille on Wednesday doing him no favours.
Wearn was forced to race the ILCA 7 medal decider twice after it was initially abandoned close to the finish.
Already delayed by a day, Wearn was minutes from collecting gold when the first race was called off due to failing wind, with just one leg left to complete.
“When they abandoned it, that was pretty tough, especially because we were so far round the track,” Wearn said.
“It was pretty stressful but Rafa (Trujillo), my coach, did a fantastic job just to settle me down, get me ready to go for another one.
“We just had to keep executing our plan and that’s what we did.”
– with AAP
