PARIS -- With competition complete, the Olympic flame extinguished, and the sporting spotlight now drifting away from the French capital, attention in Australia has turned to answering one pertinent, yet divisive question.
Was Paris 2024 Australia's greatest Olympic Games?
There are some arguing the Melbourne Games of 1956 remain top of the pile, others seem to believe there are compelling cases for either Sydney 2000 or Athens 2004. And then there are those who believe the team of three years ago at Tokyo 2020 has claims for the country's best Olympic class. But any answer that isn't Paris 2024 is nothing more than delusional romanticism at its finest. For 16 days, Australia's athletes left those they were representing breathless, and the world in awe of what a country of 'only' 27 million can achieve on the grandest sporting stage.
We'll start with perhaps the most inarguable, tangible facts; 18 gold medals -- as well as 19 silver and 16 bronze -- and an overall fourth place finish on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) recognised medal tally. Paris 2024 was Australia's greatest gold medal haul and equal-second best overall Games result, finishing behind only powerhouse nations the United States and China, as well as Japan, who snatched third place on the final day of competition. But it's that number 18 in the gold medal column which will be documented in record books, remembered, and reminisced about.
In Athens and Tokyo, the gold medal count was 17. Sydney had 16. Melbourne 13. There's an argument that the greatly increased Olympic programs of the modern era mean 18 gold medals today for fourth place isn't nearly as impressive as the tally of 13 in Melbourne for third place. And while it may be true there were more than double the amount of gold medals handed out in Paris than there were in 1956, focusing on that number alone is incredibly shallow-minded and overlooks several seismic factors as to why these most recent Games unequivocally come out on top.
The first of which is the competition. The Olympics is far more of a global sporting showcase now than it ever was, certainly in 1956 when many nations and athletes either didn't, weren't able to, or weren't permitted to compete. Back then, just 67 countries were represented at the Games, not even a third of the 206 that competed this year in Paris. There were also 10,714 athletes at the Olympics we just witnessed, a stark rise from the 3,314 athletes that made up the Melbourne games 68 years ago. Australia also accounted for double the representation of the total athlete pool in 1956 compared to 2024.
But just pause and ponder this for a moment. Since those Games in 1956, Australia's population has grown by approximately 17 million people. In the same time frame, the world's population has increased from around 2.8 billion to almost 8.2 billion. There's literally almost five and a half billion more people to compete with for those prized Olympic gold medals, and Australia only has an extra 17 million people (also known as 0.3% of the total growth) to do it. It is, quite frankly, indisputable that Olympic success is more difficult to come by today than it ever was or has been; not just for Australia, but the world.
"I have tried to think of the words to describe how I feel about this team. I am so proud. Proud for them, proud of them, and proud to be here with them," said a tearful Anna Meares, Australia's chef de mission, at the conclusion of the Olympics in Paris. "The way that they have supported each other in success and in defeat, the way that they have shown courage and been the great role models that they are.
"They have truly inspired the next generation. I am sure that there are young people who have looked at these Games, felt the power of everything they have witnessed, and are inspired to achieve their own Olympic dream."
The range of sports Australia won gold in at these Games also cannot be understated when comparing to the exploits in Melbourne. The old misnomer it cannot win on the Olympic stage outside of the pool was well and truly busted over the last 16 days, with gold medal performances coming in athletics, tennis, slalom canoe, sailing, skateboarding, and three different cycling disciplines. All up, Australia finished on the podium in 22 different sports at these Olympic Games. Sure, 1956 didn't have as many events, but Australia's gold medals back then only came in swimming, cycling, and athletics.
READ: Who won Australia's gold medals in Paris?
So, that's debunked Melbourne 1956, but what about the others? Well, the greatest claim Sydney 2000 has at being the country's greatest Olympic campaign is a record 58 total medals tallied. Paris fell just five short of that mark, but it would be the ultimate hypocrisy to mock the Americans all fortnight for placing the same weight on minor medals as gold in their fraudulent medal tallies and then argue this to be the reason why these Games fell short of Sydney. Both Athens and Tokyo had fewer gold medals, fewer silver medals, and fewer total medals, which is, well, enough said, really.
But the most impressive aspect of these Games might just be that all of the success was achieved some 16,000 kilometres from Australian soil, and the difficulty in that cannot be underestimated or undersold. Whether it's the unfamiliar conditions, a lack of crowd support, or fewer family and friends, history tells us Olympic success is drastically more difficult to come by outside of your own country.
Take France, for example. Over the past fortnight, the host nation enjoyed its greatest Olympics since ... Paris 1900. Japan was the same three years ago, amassing a record 27 gold medals in Tokyo, 15 more than the previous Games in Rio, and seven more than in Paris. Go back through time and it's a constant theme, with just about every country enjoying either its best total gold haul or overall best finishing position at its home Games.
Perhaps it's nostalgia that has many refusing to concede these games in Paris have trumped the memorable ones on our own shores. Or maybe it's because Australia slept through much of the success that unfolded over the past fortnight in France. But if the gold medal figure really is the be all end all, as Australians have argued ad nauseum, then it shouldn't be a debate. Paris 2024 was the nation's greatest Olympic Games. End of story.