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Ariarne Titmus in 60-year first as Aussies make history with three gold medals at Olympics

Australia has enjoyed its most successful opening day in Olympic Games history.

sam goodwin
Sports Editor
·5-min read

Australia won three gold medals in remarkable scenes at the Paris Olympics on Saturday night, with Ariarne Titmus, Grace Brown and the women's 4x100m freestyle relay team all triumphing. The headline act was Titmus, who got the better of American legend Katie Ledecky and Canadian young gun Summer McIntosh to win the 'race of the century' in the 400m freestyle.

In doing so, Titmus became just the second female Aussie swimmer and first in 60 years to defend an Olympic title. Titmus joins the legendary Dawn Fraser as the only Australian women to successfully defend an Olympic title in swimming, after Fraser won 100m freestyle gold in 1956, 1960 and 1964. The only other Aussie woman to defend an Olympic title in any sport is Shirley Strickland.

Ariarne Titmus, Grace Brown and the women's 4x100m relay team.
Australia won three gold medals at the Olympics on Saturday night with Ariarne Titmus (centre), Grace Brown (R) and the women's 4x100m relay team (L). Image: Getty

Titmus, Ledecky and McIntosh have all held the world record at various stages, but the Aussie prevailed as the champion on Saturday night. In the much-hyped final, the Tasmanian-born Titmus clocked three minutes 57.49 seconds to win from McIntosh (3:58.37) and Ledecky (4:00.86).

"I’m just relieved more than anything,” Titmus said after the race. β€œI probably felt the expectation and pressure for this race more than anything in my life to be honest and I’m pretty good at handling the pressure, but I’ve definitely felt it. I’m just happy to get the result for myself and I feel so honoured to be a part of the race and be alongside legends like Katie.”

Katie Ledecky, Ariarne Titmus and Summer Mcintosh.
Katie Ledecky, Ariarne Titmus and Summer Mcintosh after the 400m freestyle final at the Olympics. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images)

Titmus' gold was one of two the Aussies won in the pool on Saturday night, and one of four medals overall. The all-conquering women's 4x100m relay team made it four-straight Olympic gold medals, with Mollie O'Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris saluting in an Olympic record time of three minutes 28.92 seconds.

"They are our untouchables," commentator Mat Thompson said on Channel 9. "They had to fight. But they have done something extraordinary. Four Olympic golds, on the bounce."

Emma Mckeon, Meg Harris, Shayna Jack and Mollie O'Callaghan.
Emma Mckeon, Meg Harris, Shayna Jack and Mollie O'Callaghan celebrate after winning the 4x100m gold. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images)

The men's 4x100m relay team backed it up with silver, narrowly going down to the dominant USA team. And Elijah Winnington nabbed Australia's fourth medal in the pool on Saturday night with silver in the men's 400m freestyle. German Lukas Maertens (3:41.78) took the gold medal, touching the wall some 0.43 seconds ahead of Winnington, while Aussie Sam Short was fourth.

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The medal rush in the pool came after cyclist Brown won Australia's first gold of the Paris Games with a commanding performance in the women's road time trial. After years of near misses in major time trials, the 32-year-old dominated the 32.4km event in treacherous conditions.

Brown had finished second at the last two world championship time trials by just a handful of seconds, but on Saturday she won by a whopping one minute 31.59 seconds. She also missed the podium at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 by seven seconds, finishing fourth.

Grace Brown at the Paris Olympics.
Grace Brown broke through for gold in the women's individual time trial at the Paris Olympics. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Brown will retire at the end of this season after becoming the first Australian cyclist to win an Olympic time trial gold medal. She joins Sara Carrigan (2004 road race) and Kathy Watt (1992 road race) as Australia's only women road cycling gold medallists.

"It's a bit insane - these are Aussie legends ... it's hard to get your head around other people viewing little old me in the same way," she said. "It might take a little while to get used to. It's a really big deal and just thinking of all the people who have supported me ... really put their belief in what I can do here and given me the strength to go after it. To repay everyone with a gold medal is awesome."

It marked the first time in Olympic Games history that Australia have won three gold medals on the official opening day of events. Fans back home in Australia were beside themselves watching all the action unfold.

with AAP