Four gold medals and two bronze medals on day 12 made it the most successful day for Australia at the Olympic Games ever.
When Nina Kennedy secured her gold medal in the pole vault on Thursday morning (AEST), it wrote Paris 2024 into the history books as being Australia’s most successful Olympic Games.
The achievements didn’t stop with just nation’s records, with Kennedy and discus thrower Matthew Denny making history of their own.
Kennedy’s gold is the first for an Australian woman in the pole vault event, while Denny will leave Paris as the first Australian man to medal in the discus throw.
Denny was sitting in silver at one stage, after Lithuania’s Mykolas Alenka set an Olympic record of 69.97m. Enter Jamaica’s Roje Stona, who then broke that record again, throwing 70m to take home the gold and pushing Denny to bronze.
Keegan Parker is now a back-to-back gold medallist in the men’s park skateboarding event. The event was introduced just three years ago at the Tokyo 2020 Games, which means Parker is the only Olympic champion.
Matt Wearn also joins Parker in winning back-to-back gold by sailing his way to gold in the men’s dinghy.
But wait, it got better. Australia secured its first gold medal in the men’s team pursuit for the first time since Athens 2004, defeating Great Britain in the final.
Earlier on day 12, Jemima Montag and Rhydian Cowley earned themselves a bronze medal in the inaugural medley marathon race walk. It became Montag’s second bronze at Paris after she placed in the women’s marathon race walk.
Australia finishes day 12 with 18 gold medals, 12 silver, and 11 bronze.