Australia is one of the few countries in the world that has participated in all the summer Olympic Games.

Summer Olympics
1896 ATHENS
Australia won two gold medals, both by Edwin Flack in the 800 metres and the 1500 metres. The United States won the most gold medals, but host country Greece won the most medals.

1900 PARIS
Coinciding with the World's Fair, Australia again won two gold medals. This time it was in the pool courtesy of Fred Lane in the 200 metres freestyle and the unusual 200 metres obstacle race!

1904 ST.LOUIS
Originally scheduled for Chicago, this was moved to St.Louis to again be part of the World's Fair. This was the first time the Games had left Europe and it wouldn't leave Europe again until 1932. Australia did not win any medals for the only time in Olympic history.

1908 LONDON
This was originally scheduled for Rome but it was moved for unspecified reasons. Australia combined with New Zealand for these games and the one gold medal was won in rugby union.

1912 STOCKHOLM
Again like 1908, Australia combined with New Zealand. Two gold medals were won by the combined team, both in pool. The 4x200 metre freestyle relay team, plus Fanny Durack in the 100 metres freestyle.

1920 ANTWERP
Antwerp were given these games as Belgium was the worst affected by World War 1. Australia, on it's own this time, didn't win any gold medals but picked up two silver and one bronze.

1924 PARIS
This was the first time that a city had hosted the Games twice. This was Australia's most successful Games to date with three gold medals. Andrew "Boy" Charlton won gold in the 1500 metres freestyle, Tony Winter won gold in the Triple Jump and Rich Eve won gold in the plain diving.

1928 AMSTERDAM
For the third time in a row the Games were held in north western Europe. Australia picked up one gold medal, for Henry Winter in the single sculls in rowing.

1932 LOS ANGELES
For only the second time in Olympic history, the Games were held outside of Europe. The Depression affected these Games adversely, but Australia were again represented - and matched the Paris effort with three gold medals again. Henry Winter did it again in the single sculls, while Clare Dennis won the 200 metres breaststroke in the pool. Edgar Gray won our first cycling gold medal in the 1km time trial.

1936 BERLIN
Under the gaze of Adolf Hitler, his dreams of the superior race being proven were shot to bits by American Jesse Owens. Australia had a poor Games, with a single medal - bronze.

1948 LONDON
London was the only European city able to host the Games this year after World War 2, and they became the second city to host the Games twice in the process. All the competition for the hosting came from the US. Australia won two gold medals with John Winter winning the high jump and Merwyn Wood continuing Henry Winter's success in the rowing with the single sculls.

1952 HELSINKI
Again, Europe beat out the US to hosting these games. Australia broke their record of three gold medals easily winning six. Two were won by the Lithgow Flash, Marjorie Jackson, in the 100 metres and the 200 metres, and Shirley Strickland picked up the gold in the 80 metre hurdles. Russell Mockridge also won two gold medals in the cycling, although he shared one with Lionel Cox in the tandem cycling. Mockridge's other gold medal was in the 1km time trial. John Davies won gold in the 200 metres breaststroke in the pool.

1956 MELBOURNE
For the first time in Olympic history, the Games weren't held in Europe or the United States and were held in the southern hemisphere for the first time ever. Interestingly, the city that was beaten was also in the southern hemisphere - Buenos Aires. As the host country, it wasn't surprising to see Australia break the record set in Helsinki - winning 13 gold medals. It also allowed Australia to finish third in the medal standings behind the Soviet Union and the US, our highest ever as of 2008. All the success was on the athletic track and in the pool, with one victory in cycling - our second in row in the tandem cycling with Anthony Marchant and Ian Browne.

The hero on the track was Betty Cuthbert. She was the first Australian to win three gold medals at the one games including a leg of the 4x100 metre relay. She won the 100 metres and the 200 metres as well. Shirley Strickland repeated her Helsinki win.

In the pool, Murray Rose matched Betty Cuthbert's three medal effort - also including one in a relay (the 4x200 freestyle). He picked up gold in the 400 metres and the 1500 metres as well. Jon Henricks won the 100 metres freestyle, and David Theile won the 100 metres backstroke. With the women a legend of the future was born in Dawn Fraser winning the 100 metres freestyle. Lorraine Crapp won the 400 metres freestyle, and the girls won the 4x100 metre freestyle relay.

1960 ROME
The games returned to Europe, and Rome finally got their wish after losing the games in 1908. Australia dropped back from it's Melbourne performance but we still did better than Helsinki picking up eight gold medals. Herb Elliot hit his peak winning the 1500 metres, a medal that had eluded us since Flack in 1896. We won our first medals in Equestrian, with Laurence Morgan winning the individual mixed on board Salad Days, and the team event. In the pool, Dawn Fraser won the 100 metres freestyle again, and David Theile also repeated his 100 metres backstroke victory. Murray Rose also did a repeat - on his 400 metres freestyle effort. The 1500 metre gold medal didn't leave Australia though, as Jon Konrads picked that one up. John Devitt won the 100 metres freestyle.

1964 TOKYO
These games were another first. Just eight years after leaving Europe and the US for the first time, Asia hosted the games for the first time. Australia picked up six gold medals, and the pool was the site of the most success. Dawn Fraser cemented her legendary status winning the 100 metres freestyle for the third time in a row. This was despite her famous jaunt stealing the Olympic Flag. Robert Windle kept the 1500 metre freestyle medal in Australia for the third time in a row, while Kevin Berry won the 200 metres butterfly. Lawrence O'Brien won the 200 metres breaststroke. Elsewhere, Betty Cuthbert made a comeback on the track and won the 400 metres, while Australia picked up it's first sailing medal winning the 5.5 metre mixed event.

1968 MEXICO CITY
For the first time since 1932, the Olympics were held on the continent of North America. At a high altitude - the highest in Summer Olympic history - endurance events were affected adversely. On the other hand, world records fell in the shorter events. For example, Bob Beamon absolutely smashed the long jump record by over half a metre. These games were also known for the infamous black power salute on the podium of the 200 metres sprint by gold medallist Tommie Smith and bronze medallist John Carlos. The two men were kicked out of the Olympic Village by the IOC, but most were of the view that this was an over reaction. Australian Peter Norman, who won silver in the event and was on the podium when the salute was made - supported his fellow athletes.

Australia won five gold medals at these games with the pool again providing the most success. Michael Wendon won two gold medals in the 100 metres freestyle and the 200 metres freestyle. Lyn McClements won the 100 metres butterfly. On the track, Ralph Doubell won the 800 metres and Maureen Caird won the 80 metre hurdles to emulate Shirley Strickland.

1972 MUNICH
While searching the Adelaide Advertiser for football material for 1972, I came across a story that was ironic to say the least. The organisers of the Olympic Games in Munich figured things were running too perfectly. If only they'd known!

The Games returned to Europe for the first time since 1960, and this was the second time Germany had hosted - although this time it was West Germany instead of a combined country. But these Games will be forever remembered for the deaths of eleven Israeli athletes at the hands of terrorists. The Games were nearly stopped as a result, but after some consideration it was decided to continue on. The IOC were determined to keep the Games out of the glare of politics, especially after the criticism they received after their response to the black power salute in 1968.

It was at these games that a famous record was set by American Mark Spitz. He won an unprecedented seven gold medals at the one Olympiad - the 100 metres butterfly, the 100 metres freestyle, the 200 metres butterfly, the 200 metres freestyle, and the other three in relay events. Given the programming this is a record that was unlikely to be beaten - until Michael Phelps proved everyone wrong in 2008.

Australia won eight gold medals, and these included three to the darling of the pool - Shane Gould - equalling the record jointly held by Betty Cuthbert and Murray Rose in 1956. She won the 200 metres freestyle, the 400 metres freestyle and the 200 metres individual medley. Beverley Whitfield picked up the 200 metres breaststroke, Brad Cooper won the 400 metres freestyle and Gail Neall won the 400 metres individual medley. Australia also won two gold medals in the sailing - the dragon mixed, and the two person keel boat with David Forbes and John Anderson.

1976 MONTREAL
Once again the Games returned to North America, but not the United States. For the first time since 1936, Australia failed to win a gold medal. We came away with one silver and four bronze medals. These Games were marred by an African boycott because New Zealand were allowed to compete after their rugby team had toured South Africa. On the positive side, the highlight of these games was a little Romanian gymnast named Nadia Comaneci. She swept the floor with seven perfect scores and changed gymnastics forever with her poise.

These were the first games that I actually remember seeing on TV. The two things that stand out are Stephen Holland (I watched that with my primary school class mates) and the Kookaburras (the men's hockey team).

The talk was strong going into the 1500 metres in the pool about breaking the world record, and maybe breaking the magical 15 minute barrier. Stephen Holland had already lowered the mark himself, but in Montreal he had competition in the form of two Americans also determined to achieve the same feat - Brian Goodell and Bobby Hackett. He swum a smart race, making his move at the 800 metre mark, at which point the commentator yelled "Holland's hit the front" (which was met with a big cheer in my classroom!). But he couldn't maintain the lead. He did break the world record, but so did Hackett and Goodell, with Goodell taking the gold in a time of 15:02.4.

The Kookaburras represented our last hope at a gold medal. We'd made the semi finals by the skin of our teeth just getting in ahead of India on goal difference. The Netherlands were the favourites having won all five games, but they were beaten in the semi final by New Zealand in a major upset 2-1. The Kookaburras managed to get past Pakistan also 2-1, and we were in the final. However the Kiwis spoiled the party winning 1-0.

Of interest - one of the other bronze medals was won by John Bertrand - who of course went on to skipper Australia II in 1983 to winning the America's Cup.

Montreal possibly fared the worst financially (aside from Atlanta's private funding effort) with the debt from the Games not paid off until the 1990's, and the main stadium wasn't actually finished in time for the Games. It was finally completed about 12 months later.

1980 MOSCOW
The Soviets put a huge effort into these Games, particularly the opening and closing ceremonies. However their invasion of Afganistan in late 1979 caused the United States to try and lead a boycott in protest. Australia resisted (as did the United Kingdom and New Zealand), but we marched behind the Olympic flag instead of the Australian flag and a number of elite athletes pulled out of the team due to political pressure.

This was bound to affect Australia's medal chances, but we did manage to improve on 1976. Not surprisingly the success came in the pool. Australia won both of our two gold medals there, getting the win in the 4x100 metre Medley Relay. Michelle Ford caused something of an upset in the 800 metres freestyle, an event that the absent Tracy Wickham probably would have won.

I don't remember much about these Olympics aside from the opening and closing ceremonies. The time difference was probably at it's worst.

1984 LOS ANGELES
For the first time since 1932 the Olympics returned to the United States. Funnily enough that was also in LA. This was only the third time the Games have been held in the same place twice. After the 1980 boycott, the communist countries (except for Romania) played tit for tat and pulled a boycott of their own.

The lasting image from these games was from the women's marathon, being run for the first time. The final runner to cross the finish line was Swiss woman Gabi Andersen-Schiess. She was stumbling under the effects of heat exhaustion, but refused help - determined to finish. She made it and collapsed into the arms of officials.

Another lasting image from these Olympics was the collision between American Mary Decker and Zola Budd who although representing the United Kingdom was in fact from South Africa originally. The Americans claimed the collision was a deliberate act by Budd and got her disqualified even though she finished seventh in the event, but Olympic officials later reversed the decision upon watching TV replays which clearly showed the collision was accidental. I understand that Decker has never accepted this and to this day blames Budd for the incident.

Australia won four gold medals at these games, and I was watching live for one of them. The absence of the Communist countries affected the numbers in the weightlifting and it opened the door for a fisherman from Port Lincoln named Dean Lukin. He was lifting in the super heavyweight division and was in line for a win in the combined snatch and clean and jerk. I don't remember what the weight was, but I do remember that he put the winning lift on the barbell after a successful first lift in the clean and jerk - so he could have two shots at it. I said at the time it was a smart move, but he only needed one shot. However it was close. The clean was smooth, but he almost lost the jerk at the peak. The commentator got it right "or has he?" I wasn't going to celebrate until I saw the three lights go up at that, but he got them!!

The other three medals were all over the place. Our only medal in the pool was courtesy of Jon Sieben in the 200 metres butterfly. Glynis Nunn won the heptathlon giving us our first track and field gold medal since 1968. And we picked up the gold medal for the 4000 metre Team Pursuit in cycling - our first gold medal on two wheels since 1956.

1988 SEOUL
For only the second time in Olympic history, the Games were held in Asia. Not surprisingly North Korea boycotted. My following of this Olympiad was affected by work.

Two lasting impressions came from these Games. The first was in the blue ribbon 100 metres at the track. Canadian Ben Johnson broke the then world record, running 9.79 seconds. However he then failed a drug test for anabolic steroids, and he was stripped of the victory and the record. To this day Johnson denies any wrong doing claiming the drug was placed in his food or drink. The second was the potentially fatal hit taken by diver Greg Louganis. In one of his dives in the 3 metre springboard, he hit the back of his head on the board. Luckily he was okay, and he went on to win the gold medal in the event.

Australia won three gold medals, and I remember two of them. The first was our obligatory win in the pool. Duncan Armstrong, riding the wash of American Matt Biondi, broke the world record - and Channel Ten embarrassed the American broadcasters by replaying their commentary, and they were only just short of calling Armstrong a cheat!

I was listening to the radio at work, when Debbie Flintoff-King managed to grab the gold in the 400 metre hurdles on the line just 0.01 of a second ahead of the Soviet Tatyana Ledovskaya. The radio coverage (from the ABC) knew it was close, but they thought the Russian had just lasted. It was a pleasant surprise when the official result went up on the screen.

The other gold medal was the first win for our girls on the hockey field - making up to a certain extent for the Kookaburras loss in 1976. They won 2-0 over Games hosts South Korea.

1992 BARCELONA
The Olympics returned to Europe, with Spain taking their turn hosting for the first time. These Games were the first to be held without the restraints of amateur status, even though it was still a requirement that no athletes get paid for their participation. This led - for example - to the dubbed Dream Team (the American basketball team). These Games also heralded the return of South Africa to the Olympic family after their expulsion during the height of Apartheid. I could swear I saw a little tear in Lee's eye when the team arrived at the opening ceremony. Also, Germany had reunified and participated as a whole country for the first time since they hosted in 1936.

There were no lasting general memories from these games otherwise, but for Australia it was our most successful Games in 20 years. We picked up seven gold medals. Kieran Perkins brought the 1500 metres freestyle gold back to Australia for the first time since 1964 in our only success in the pool despite the efforts of Hayley Lewis. Kathy Watt picked up gold in the 3000 metre road race in cycling, while Matt Ryan on board Kibah Tic Toc (what a name for a horse!) won the three day event in equestrian, helping us pick up the team event as well - much like Laurence Morgan did in 1960.

We also won three gold medals on the river. Clint Robinson won in the K1 1000 metres in canoeing, while we also won the double sculls with Stephen Hawkins and Peter Antonie. But the heroes of the river were that quartet who couldn't sing a note! Andrew Cooper, Mike McKay, James Tomkins and Nick Green - the Oarsome Foursome.

1996 ATLANTA
I still believe to this day that the right to host these Games was bought. Melbourne were looking to host these Games, but failed to earn that right.

The Games returned again to the United States for the first Olympiad that was not run by the local government. This was a risk and it backfired, causing the IOC to rule that from now on only bids with 100 percent government backing financially will be accepted.

I doubt anyone in the world had dry eyes when we discovered that Muhammed Ali - racked with Parkinson's disease - would be lighting the Olympic flame. This was what the Games were all about, courage. And the IOC was wonderful to replace Ali's 1960 boxing gold medal, which Ali had thrown in the river as useless after he discovered that the win didn't overcome the prejudice relating to his skin colour.

Another highlight that I remember vividly was Michael Johnson's win in the 200 metres. In a world record time of 19.32 seconds (carving an incredible 0.34 seconds off the mark he himself set at the US Nationals) he streeted the field by 0.36 seconds!

Not much was made of it at the time in Australia, but it was of course at these Games that Kurt Angle won his gold medal in freestyle wrestling. This was another example of courage given Angle did this with a broken neck.

Talking of courage though - there was never a better example of it in 1996 for Australia than Kieran Perkins. He'd made the final of the 1500 metres freestyle by the skin of his teeth with a swim below his usual standard after the hatchet job he did on the world record two years earlier in the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. But in spite of that, Kieran proved just what sort of champion he was and gutted out the whole race throwing everything into what would be the most courageous effort in the pool probably ever. He did break the 15 minutes, but as commentator Dennis Cometti said at the time;

Forget the time. This is all about courage.

Perkins was out of the pool with his fists in the air. A lot of people had written him off, and he'd come back and shown them all just what was in his heart. He cemented his status as a true sporting legend with this swim.

Australia won nine gold medals at these Games, although the total count was 41 medals - a record. Along with Perkins, we had one other swimming gold, won by Susie O'Neill in the 200 metres butterfly. Despite no individual gold medals, the equestrian team made it two in a row whilst the girls hockey team won gold under the coaching of Rick Charlesworth - a member of the Kookaburra's silver medal winning team in 1976. A new version of the Oarsome Foursome (with Drew Ginn replacing Andrew Cooper) won the coxless fours again on the river and Kate Slatter and Megan Still won the coxless pairs.

In the tennis, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde won gold in the doubles, whilst much was made of the two gold medals won by Michael Diamond and Russell Mark in the shooting. In my opinion the timing was lousy given what had happened only months earlier in Port Arthur.

One more general point on interest - the B Samples of the US athletes tested for drugs all went missing in mysterious circumstances.

2000 SYDNEY
After Melbourne's failure to secure the 1996 Games, Sydney's successful bid was bitter sweet to say the least. We were going to have trouble topping what Atlanta did to light the flame, but I was proved wrong when I realised what they were going to do. It couldn't have been anyone else to light the flame but Cathy Freeman, and it would have been perfect if the machinery hadn't gone on the blink for several panic stricken minutes!

I would dearly have loved to have gone to these Games, but monetary restraints made that impossible.

General highlights of these Games were hard to come by, given that Australia picked up a record 16 gold medals in amongst the 58 total (also a record). This gave us fourth place in the medal standings behind the United States, Russia and China - just one position short of our finish in Melbourne in 1956.

When it came to Australia - one just can not go past Cathy Freeman in the 400 metres. There was a huge amount of pressure on her, given the no show of her main competition in Marie-Jose Perec. But she weathered it and entering the home straight she accelerated and no one could stay with her. In commentary, Raelene Boyle got it right when she uttered the words;

What a relief.

Cathy is the only athlete in Olympic history to have lit the Olympic flame, and then gone on to win a gold medal at the same Olympiad.

There were a number of firsts amongst the other 15 gold medals. We picked up our first in Archery through Simon Fairweather, Taekwondo through Lauren Burns, Beach Volleyball through Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst and Women's Water Polo.

We also picked up gold at the velodrome with Brett Aitken and Scott McGrory winning the madison, while out on Sydney Harbour we got two gold in 470 class sailing through Tom King and Mark Turnbull, and Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell.

The girls hockey team picked up their second gold medal in a row, as did Michael Diamond in the trap shooting. We won the team event in equestrian for the third time in a row - and in the process Andrew Hoy got his third in row equalling the Australian record.

But as usual, the pool saw our best work. We brought home five gold medals from there with Grant Hackett taking over from Kieran Perkins in the 1500 metres freestyle. Ian Thorpe took out the 400 metres freestyle, and Susie O'Neill made it two in a row in the 200 metres butterfly. We also picked up two relay gold medals, including the 4x100 metres freestyle in sensational fashion with Thorpe picking up the arrogant Americans in the final leg. I say arrogant because Gary Hall Junior prior to the event had claimed that they would wreck us "like a smashed guitar". The Aussies - after winning - gleefully played air guitars right back at the Yanks! And the crowd loved it! The Americans were good sports about it, as both teams had beaten the world record. We also won the 4x200 metres freestyle - giving Thorpe a record equalling three gold medals for the Games.

2004 ATHENS
After more than 100 years on the road, the Olympic Games returned home. Athens had been trying to host the Games since 1996, but IOC had considered that they weren't ready until now. It was the fourth time an Olympiad had returned to the same venue, and the opening ceremony had to be changed after two of the participants were involved in a motorcycle accident. That got interesting later as the two - a couple of Greek sprinters - had a positive test to drugs but they weren't acted on because it was the hospital who did the test and it wasn't recognised by the world athletics authorities.

These were the first Games after 9/11 and security was tighter than ever. I missed a lot of these Games for reasons I don't recall.

Australia actually bettered the Sydney effort on gold medals, picking up 17 of them even though the total was less than Sydney. After a general strength in the event, Chantelle Newbury scored in the diving off the 10 metre platform. Former members of the Oarsome Foursome, Drew Ginn and James Tompkins, picked up the coxless pairs gold on the river and Suzanne Balogh won the trap shooting.

But the win that got the most emotion from me - and I made sure I watched this - was from the Kookaburras. With the 1976 loss still relatively fresh in my mind, I was hoping like crazy that they would make up for it. With the scores at 1-1, the gold medal game went to extra time against the Netherlands. We'd lost to them in the preliminaries 2-1. But we were not going to be denied this time! I can't remember who scored the golden goal, but when it was scored I was RAPT! It was ironic in a way, given that the Netherlands were also undefeated going into the semi finals in 1976. On that occasion New Zealand eliminated them. This time they got to the final - only to have to be happy with silver.

The swimmers were great as usual with seven gold medals. Ian Thorpe won two gold medals, repeating his 400 metres freestyle win, and adding the 200 metres freestyle as well. Grant Hackett again won the 1500 metres. In the relays it was the girls this time, winning the 4x100 freestyle and the 4x100 medley. Jodie Henry and Petria Thomas were a part of both and they both got individual gold to again equal the record of three at the one Games. Henry won the 100 metres freestyle and Thomas won the 100 metres butterfly.

The surprises came from the cycling, just one short of equalling the swimmers with six gold. Sara Carrigan won the Women's Road Race, while on the track Ryan Bayley won two gold medals in the Sprint and the Keirin. Anna Meares won the 500 metre time trial, and we won the madison again this time through Stuart O'Grady and Graeme Brown. Brown was also a member of the team pursuit that also picked up gold.

2008 BEIJING
After losing out to Sydney for the 2000 Games, China learned a valuable lesson. Their bid for these games reflected it. Unfortunately old habits died hard as controversy erupted on the eve of the Games in Tibet - and the effects of protests on the torch relay. However the Games themselves went off without an external hitch.

The biggest story from these games without a doubt was the Phil's World Brain of the Month for August winner Michael Phelps. His eight gold medals, breaking the record of Mark Spitz set in 1972, was a hyped aim but no one thought he would do it (see the article on him).

As the host nation, there was no surprise that China led the medal count with 50 gold medals even though the US won more medals in total. Australia dropped back a little but we still won 14 gold medals, and as usual most of success was in the pool. Stephanie Rice won three gold medals equalling the record again (that's something of a hoodoo number) including one in a relay - the 4x200 metres freestyle. Her individual wins were in the 200 and 400 metres individual medleys. Liesel Jones won the 100 metres breaststroke and Libby Trickett won the 100 metres butterfly after Petria Thomas's win in the same event in Athens. The 4x100 metres medley relay brought home the other gold medal from the pool.

Elsewhere we picked up two gold medals in the rowing, with Drew Ginn winning the coxless pairs for the second time in a row - this time teamed with Duncan Free. Scott Brennan and David Crawshay picked up the win in the double sculls. In the canoeing, Ken Wallace won the K1 500 metres. We picked up two more in the sailing with both the men's and the women's 470 class scoring victory. Nathan Wilmot and Matthew Page won as did Tessa Parkinson and Elise Rechichi - mimicking the victories in the same events (by different people) in Sydney.

Matthew Mitcham was the one blemish in a clean sweep of the diving gold for the host country, scoring the upset win in the 10 metre platform with a record individual score. Emma Snowsill got what could be described as overdue gold in the Triathlon (given the number of professional wins we have in such events), and Stephen Hooker scored our first gold in the field part of track and field since 1948 by winning the pole vault.

Unfortunately Grant Hackett was unable to win the 1500 metres for the third time, and the cycling team went from chocolates to boiled lollies winning a single silver medal (Anna Meares) after six gold in Athens.

2012 LONDON
These Olympic Games will create history. London is the first city to host the Olympic Games three times. They will start in late July.

2020 To be decided
The decision will be made in 2013, and it appears that if an Australian city bids it will in fact be Brisbane and not Melbourne as previously noted here. However there was also a note on Wikipedia that the IOC may mandate that the host city be an African nation, particularly (and presumably) after the 2016 decision meant that Africa was the only continent yet to host the Games.

Winter Olympics
Australia is not a country that is well endowed with the right conditions to field a strong team in the Winter Games. The Winter Games were first held in 1924 and was held in the same year as the Summer Games until 1992, and then they were moved to the middle of the four year gap between Summer Games beginning in 1994.

Australia first participated in 1936 in a small Bavarian town in Germany - the same country that hosted the Summer Games. We missed 1948 in St.Moritz in Switzerland, but we've been at every Winter Games since. Medal glory however eluded us until 1994 in Lillehammer when we picked up the bronze in the 5000 metre short track relay in speed skating. In 1998 in Nagano, Zali Steggall won bronze for the slalom in skiing.

Finally, in 2002 in Salt Lake City, we struck gold. And in fairness, it was luck. Steven Bradbury was out of the medals in the 1000 metre short track speed skating until the final lap when all four of them crashed out allowing him through. A crash in the semi finals also allowed him through to the final. It wasn't over for those Games either, as Alisa Camplin picked up gold in the aerials in skiing - an event that she wasn't expected to win as she hadn't won a world cup event anywhere before this.

In Turin in 2006, Dale Begg-Smith won the moguls in skiing while Camplin followed her gold in 2002 with bronze in the same event. In Vancouver in 2010, Dale followed is gold with silver, while Torah Bright scored our fourth gold medal in Winter Olympic history in the Half pipe snowboarding. Lydia Lassila made it five, following in Camplin's footsteps in the aerials.