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Australia at Olympics
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Australia sent 433 athletes to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. They competed in 26 of the 28 Olympic program sports, failing to qualify in baseball and team handball. Australian athletes have competed in all of the Summer Olympic Games since the games started.

Australia sent 43 swimmers winning a total of 18 medals. The men’s team won 3 silver and 3 bronze medals, while the women’s team won 6 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals and set 4 world records.

Five Australians were selected to compete in the triathlon at the 2008 Olympics. The women won 1 gold and 1 bronze medal and the men failed to place. Australia participated in both the men’s and the women’s Water polo tournaments. The women’s team won the bronze medal, while the men’s team finished in 8th place.

In Australia, an estimated 8 million people watched the televised broadcast of the Opening Ceremony. It had the most viewers, surpassing even the 2000 Sydney Olympics opening ceremony. Seven was the only network to televise the Opening Ceremony in Australia.

International Olympic Committee gave Seven its Golden Rings Award for “Best Olympic Programme”. It’s given for the best overall Olympic coverage.

		Host	1st	2nd	3rd	Dates
XXIX	2008	Beijing	14	15	17	8 Aug – 24 Aug

The following records are Australians who won gold, silver or bronze medals at the 2008 Olympic Games.

2008 Beijing China

	Sport	Event	Competitors
1st	Athletics	Men’s pole vault	Steven Hooker
1st	Canoeing	Men’s K-1, 500m	Ken Wallace
1st	Diving	Men’s 10m platform	Matthew Mitcham
1st	Rowing	Men’s coxless pair	Drew Ginn, Duncan Free
1st	Rowing	Men’s double sculls	Scott Brennan, David Crawshay
1st	Sailing	Men’s 470 class	Nathan Wilmot, Malcolm Page
1st	Sailing	Women’s 470 class	Tessa Parkinson, Elise Rechichi
1st	Swimming	Women’s 100m butterfly	Lisbeth Trickett
1st	Swimming	Women’s 100m breaststroke	Leisel Jones
1st	Swimming	Women’s 200m individual medley	Stephanie Rice
1st	Swimming	Women’s 400m individual medley	Stephanie Rice
1st	Swimming	Women’s 4x100m medley relay	Emily Seebohm, Leisel Jones, Jessicah Schipper, Libby Trickett, Tarnee White*, Felicity Galvez*, Shayne Reese*
1st	Swimming	Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay	Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer, Linda Mackenzie, Felicity Galvez*, Melanie Schlanger*, Angie Bainbridge*, Lara Davenport*
1st	Triathlon	Women’s triathlon	Emma Snowsill
2nd	Athletics	Women’s 100m hurdles	Sally McLellan
2nd	Athletics	50 km walk	Jared Tallent
2nd	Basketball	Women’s tournament	Women’s National Basketball Team Suzy Batkovic, Erin Phillips, Tully Bevilaqua, Emma Randall, Rohanee Cox, Jenni Screen, Hollie Grima, Belinda Snell, Kristi Harrower, Laura Summerton, Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor
2nd	Canoeing	Women’s slalom K-1	Jacqueline Lawrence
2nd	Cycling	Women’s sprint	Anna Meares
2nd	Diving	Women’s 10m synchronised platform	Briony Cole, Melissa Wu
2nd	Equestrian	Team eventing	Clayton Fredericks, Lucinda Fredericks, Sonja Johnson, Megan Jones, Shane Rose
2nd	Rowing	Men’s coxless four	Matt Ryan, James Marburg, Francis Hegerty, Cameron McKenzie-McHarg
2nd	Sailing	Tornado class	Darren Bundock, Glenn Ashby
2nd	Swimming	Women’s 100m freestyle	Libby Trickett
2nd	Swimming	Women’s 200m breaststroke	Leisel Jones
2nd	Swimming	Men’s 100m freestyle	Eamon Sullivan
2nd	Swimming	Men’s 200m breaststroke	Brenton Rickard
2nd	Swimming	Men’s 1500m freestyle	Grant Hackett
2nd	Swimming	Men’s 4x100m medley relay	Hayden Stoeckel, Brenton Rickard, Andrew Lauterstein, Eamon Sullivan, Ashley Delaney*, Christian Sprenger*, Adam Pine*, Matt Targett*
3rd	Athletics	20 km walk	Jared Tallent
3rd	Canoeing	Women’s K-4 500m	Lisa Oldenhof, Hannah Davis, Chantal Meek, Lyndsie Fogarty
3rd	Canoeing	Men’s slalom C-1	Robin Bell
3rd	Canoeing	Men’s K-1 1000m	Ken Wallace
3rd	Field hockey	Men’s tournament	National Field Hockey Team Des Abbottm, Rob Hammond, Travis Brooks, Fergus Kavanagh, Kiel Brown, Jamie Dwyer, Mark Knowles, Liam De Young, Stephen Lambert, Luke Doerner, Eli Matheson, Eddie Ockenden, Bevan George, Grant Schubert, David Guest, Matt Wells
3rd	Shooting	Men’s 50m rifle prone	Warren Potent
3rd	Softball	Women’s tournament	Women’s National Softball Team Jodie Bowering, Simmone Morrow, Danielle Stewart, Kylie Cronk, Tracey Mosley, Natalie Titcume, Kelly Hardie, Stacey Porter, Natalie Ward, Tanya Harding, Melanie Roche, Belinda Wright, Sandy Lewis, Justine Smethurst, Kerry Wyborn
3rd	Swimming	Women’s 50m freestyle	Cate Campbell
3rd	Swimming	Women’s 100m butterfly	Jessicah Schipper
3rd	Swimming	Women’s 200m butterfly	Jessicah Schipper
3rd	Swimming	Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay	Cate Campbell, Alice Mills, Libby Trickett, Melanie Schlanger, Shayne Reese*
3rd	Swimming	Men’s 100m butterfly	Andrew Lauterstein
3rd	Swimming	Men’s 100m backstroke	Hayden Stoeckel
3rd	Swimming	Men’s 4x100m freestyle relay	Eamon Sullivan, Andrew Lauterstein, Ashley Callus, Matt Targett, Leith Brodie*, Patrick Murphy*
3rd	Swimming	Men’s 4x200m freestyle relay	Patrick Murphy, Grant Hackett, Grant Brits, Nick Frost, Leith Brodie*, Kirk Palmer *
3rd	Triathlon	Women’s triathlon	Emma Moffatt
3rd	Water polo	Women’s tournament	Women’s National Water Polo Team Gemma Beadsworth, Emma Knox, Nikita Cuffe, Alicia McCormack, Suzie Fraser, Melissa Rippon, Taniele Gofers, Rebecca Rippon, Kate Gynther, Mia Santoromito, Amy Hetzel, Jenna Santoromito, Bronwen Knox

* indicates the athlete participated in the preliminaries, but not in the final race.