Australian Olympic team for Paris 2024: Top athletes, results, best states and sports named so far
The race for Paris Olympic spots is well underway as is the battle to be the leading state in the 2024 Australian Olympic team. See the states neck-and-neck at the start of May.
NSW
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The countdown is on to the 2024 Olympic Games but interestingly just 60 athletes of the anticipated 460 who will don the green and gold for Australia have their tickets to Paris stamped.
A host of sports will unveil their top stars in weeks to come but at the start of May three states were leading the race for the honour of being the best represented so far with seven sports confirming athletes, including 37 debutants.
The powerhouse sporting state of NSW is actually in equal second place with Queensland with 16 athletes as Victoria leads the way with 17.
Western Australia has nine athletes, the ACT and South Australia one athlete each but none so far from Tasmania.
With the final athletics, rowing and swimming teams still to be determined along with multiple other sports including triathlon, basketball, hockey and diving, this could change dramatically in the final lead-in to the Games.
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While some athletes have been forced to relocate to different states to train or be part of national centres, they still have close ties with their home states and family, friends and clubs who have supported them on their journey to the Olympic arena.
Victorian has a great array of athletes from the athletics track to the rapids represented in the Australian team.
Team members include hight-profile boxer Harry Garside, climber Oceania McKenzie, 800m runner Peter Bol, now based in Perth, and canoe paddlersTristan Carter who trains at the Sydney 200 whitewater centre alongside Jessica Fox.
Jemma Montag has also been selected onto the athletics team along with medal hope Eleanor Patterson.
Olympic hopefuls Bol, Matt Denny and former high jump world champion Eleanor Patterson and Rhydian Cowley are going to their third Olympics
Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers, Olympic finalist Jessica Hull, world championship silver medallist Montag, Kyle Swan, Michelle Jenneke and Rebecca Henderson are all heading to their second Olympics.
Athletes from Queensland are predominantly from water sports expected to do well for Australia at the Games.
They include the first sailor named to the Olympic team in Townsville’s kite foiler Breiana Whitehead, who will be racing at her first Games.
The first athletes named on the Australian team was marathon swimmer Chelsea Gubecka with another early selection Nick Sloman.
Tokyo Olympic gold medallists Tom Green and Jean Van der Weshuyzen are back for another tilt at a kayak sprint medal with their teammates including fellow 2021 Olympian and mum Alyce Wood and discus gun Matt Denny.
The majority of athletes hailing from NSW are also involved in water sports.
The star is Tokyo gold medallist Fox, the greatest paddler of all time, and chasing multiple medals on the whitewater in France where she was born before moving to Australia with her parents, both multiple world champions in the same sport.
Riley Fitzsimmons, from The Central Coast but based on the Gold Coast at the national centre, is heading to his third Olympics with K4 teammate Noah Havard from Bondi preparing for his first.
NSW sailors Grae Morris, Jim Colley, Brin Liddell, Shaun Connor, Rhiannan Brown and Evie Haseldine are also making debuts.
Haseldine’s teammate in the 49erFX, Olivia Price, is returning to the Olympic arena after winning a silver at the 2012 Games in London.
The sailing team won two gold at the last Olympics.
Western Australia’s nine athletes include the recently named 470 mixed pairing of Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas and ILCA 6 sailor Zoe Thomson who is also a member of the Australian Challenge squad for the upcoming America’s Cup.
Also in the WA team is Tokyo Olympic champion Matt Wearn who will race the ILCA 7, previously known as a Laser.
Callum Peters is the first South Australian on the Australian Olympic team and boxing teammate Monique Suraci the first from the ACT.
The Olympic Games run from July 26 and will be contested by in excess of 10,000 athletes
in 32 sports across 42 venues.
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