EDITORIAL: Australia achieves greatest gold medal haul ever at Paris Olympic Games, and there’s more to come

For those who stayed up, it was a night they will never forget.

For the rest of us, it was the very best way to wake up.

Australia’s greatest ever day at the Olympic Games, to seal our greatest ever gold medal haul.

Four gold medals, in five frenetic hours of competition.

The first of those four came via Perth sailor Matt Wearn, who defended his Tokyo crown, making him the first man to be back-to-back Olympic champion in the men’s dinghy event.

Less than two hours later, 21-year-old Keegan Palmer pulled off the same feat in the men’s park skateboarding. He’s the event’s only ever gold medallist, after skateboarding’s inclusion in the games at Tokyo.

There was scarcely time to catch your breath before the next, just half an hour later.

Gold for Australia at the velodrome for the pursuit team of Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Kelland O’Brien, snatching victory from the more fancied British team.

We weren’t done yet.

There was to be one final gold medal, this one for pole vaulter Nina Kennedy.

Kennedy cleared 4.9m, leaving the rest of the field without an answer.

Her victory made 18 gold medals in total for Australia, surpassing the previous record of 17 set in Athens in 2004 and equalled in Tokyo in 2021.

And there could be more to come.

Australia has medal chances to come in the boxing, golf, water polo and cycling. And there’s always a chance for a surprise to come.

Regardless of the outcome of those events, Aussies will have plenty of golden moments to reflect on when the 2024 Games wrap up.

The dominance of the Fox sisters in the canoe and kayaking events, for one. The elation on Paris dual-gold medallist Jess’s face at seeing little sister Noemie take out the win in the kayak cross — the event Noemie had eliminated Jess from 24 hours earlier — was something no Aussie would forget in a hurry.

Then there’s the absolute heroics of our women in the pool.

An individual gold for Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle, fending off American legend Katie Ledecky and Canadian Summer McIntosh.

Two for Kaylee McKeown across the 100m and 200m backstroke.

Success also for the all-conquering women in the 4x100m and 4x100m freestyle relays, the former of which gave Emma McKeon her sixth gold medal, making her Australia’s most successful-ever Olympian.

And individual golds in the pool too for Mollie O’Callaghan and Cam McEvoy. Plus a gold at the velodrome for Grace Brown, one in the BMX racing for Saya Sakakibara, one for 14-year-old Arisa Trew in the women’s park skateboarding, plus gold in the men’s doubles for Matt Ebden and John Peers.

The one problem with winning so many gold medals at a single game is that there are literally too many medallists to name.

It’s a nice problem to have, and it’s not over yet.

C’est magnifique.