The national team is poised for its biggest Olympics gold medal haul and the best may be yet to come
Seventeen. That is the number of gold medals the Australian Olympic team won at the 2004 Games in Athens. It represents the most successful ever Olympics for Australia, one gold medal ahead of Sydney 2000 and four ahead of Melbourne 1956.
Of course, there are many ways to measure Olympic success. The Americans are fond of ordering their medal tally by total medals won, which sometimes boosts the United States above other nations. After the 2008 Games, when China won the most gold medals and the USA won the more medals overall, then-International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge took a diplomatic stance. “I believe each country will highlight what suits it best,” he said. “We take no position on that.” (Although the medal count on the IOC website ranks by gold).
