Every Australian medal won in Rio: The Aussie athletes to celebrate

AUSTRALIA won 29 medals at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. While it wasn’t as successful a games as forecast, from gold to bronze, these are the athletes to celebrate.

Some of our Rio gold medallists.

THE Rio Olympic Games are over and now the internal investigations into Australia’s poor performance will begin.

But despite the lack of medals in the pool and our basketballers bombing out Australia did have a number of success stories.

These are the people we should be celebrating, with 29 medals picked up by Australians.

GOLD — 8

WOMEN’S RUGBY SEVENS: It’s the first time the sevens has been an Olympic sport and our women’s squad became the inaugural golden girls after blitzing the tournament with huge wins. A final 24-17 win against New Zealand clinched the gold with tries to Charlotte Chaslick, Ellia Green, Evania Pelite and Emma Tonegato.

KIM BRENNAN: She went in as favourite to win the women’s single sculls and pick up Australia’s first rowing gold in eight years and she did just that. Brennan led from the start and stood top of the podium with a time of 7:21.54 seconds.

CHLOE ESPOSITIO: She entered the final leg of the women’s modern pentathlon in seventh and finished in first. Esposito used her exceptional shooting and running skills to bridge the 45-second gap between her and first place to claim gold. The 24-year-old couldn’t believe it as she crossed the line following the qualifying legs of fencing, swimming and show jumping.

TOM BURTON: Another shock gold for Australia, this time in the sailing men’s laser class. Burton needed to finish five boats ahead of Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic in the final race and sailed an exceptional leg to cross victorious.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING RELAY: The Aussies were defending Olympic champions after London and they retained that title with a blistering relay against the US. Cate Campbell, Bronte Campbell, Emma McKeon and Brittany Elmslie never looked in doubt.

MACK HORTON: The men’s 400m freestyle will be remembered for the war of words between Horton and China’s Sun Yang but it will also be remembered as a victory for Australia. Horton bagged gold after calling Yang a drug cheat, narrowly beating the Chinese swimmer with a time of 3:41.55 to 3:41.68.

KYLE CHALMERS: The kid came from nowhere to win the men’s 100m freestyle. Chalmers, at the age of 18 years and one month, stunned everyone with a time of 47.58 to become the first Australian male to win the event in 48 years.

CATHERINE SKINNER:Gold in the women’s trap shooting after Skinner saw off New Zealand rival Natalie Rooney in the final. The 26 year old hit 12 of 15 targets in the final and stood stunned after her final shot to win the gold.

SILVER — 11

MADELINE GROVES: Women’s 200m butterfly.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING RELAY: 4x200m freestyle raced by Bronte Barratt, Tamsin Cook, Leah Neale, Emma McKeon.

ROWING QUADS SCULL: Karsten Forsterling, Alexander Belonogoff, Cameron Girdlestone, James McRae.

MITCH LARKIN: Men’s 200m backstroke.

ROWING MEN’S FOUR: Alexander Hill, Josh Booth, Josh Dunkley-Smith and Will Lockwood.

CYCLING MEN’S TEAM PURSUIT: Jack Bobridge, Alex Edmondson, Michael Hepburn, Sam Welsford.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING RELAY: 4x100m medley raced by Cate Campbell, Emily Seebohm, Emma McKeon, Taylor McKeown.

SAILING NACRA 17: Cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin.

SAILING MEN’S 470: Mat Belcher and Will Ryan.

SAILING MEN’S 49ER: Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen.

JARED TALLENT: Men’s 50km walk race.

BRONZE — 10

MEN’S ARCHERY TEAM: Taylor Worth, Alec Potts, Ryan Tyack.

MEN’S SWIMMING RELAY: 4x100m freestyle relay raced by Cameron McEvoy, James Roberts, Kyle Chalmers, James Magnussen.

SYNCHRONISED DIVING: Anabelle Smith and Maddison Keeney.

EQUESTRIAN TEAM EVENTING: Stuart Tinney, Sam Griffiths, Christopher Burton, Shane Rose.

EMMA McKEON: Women’s 200m freestyle.

JESSICA FOX: Women’s slalom canoe/kayak.

DANE BIRD-SMITH: Men’s 20km walk race.

ANNA MEARES: Track cycling women’s keirin.

MEN’S SWIMMING RELAY: 4x100m medley relay raced by Kyle Chalmers, Mitch Larkin, Jake Packard, David Morgan.

KAYAKING K2-1000M SPRINT: Ken Wallace and Lachlan Tame.

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