50 Fun Facts About Australian Sports

Which Australian speed skater won 2002 Olympic gold after every rival ahead of him crashed in a last-corner pile-up?

Steven Bradbury became the first person from a Southern Hemisphere country to win a Winter Olympic event, skating past a pile-up 50 metres from the line in the 1000 m short-track final. He was about 15 metres behind when the leaders fell.

Which jockey became the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup, riding 100-1 shot Prince of Penzance?

Michelle Payne won the 2015 Cup in the race's 155-year history and told the doubters who had wanted her off the horse to 'get stuffed' in her post-race interview. Her brother Stevie was the gelding's strapper.

Archie Thompson scored 13 goals as the Socceroos beat which team 31-0 in a 2001 World Cup qualifier?

American Samoa's 31-0 defeat in Coffs Harbour remains the biggest win in international football, and Thompson's 13 goals are still the record for one player in a match.

On captain Greg Chappell's orders, how did brother Trevor bowl the last ball to New Zealand at the MCG in 1981?

Underarm was still legal then: New Zealand needed six from the final ball to tie, and batsman Brian McKechnie threw his bat away in disgust after blocking it.

Which swimmer, the first woman under a minute for 100 m freestyle, was banned for ten years after the 1964 Olympics?

Dawn Fraser won the 100 m freestyle at three straight Games from 1956, then was suspended after a night out in Tokyo that ended with her accused of souvenir-hunting a flag from the Emperor's palace.

Which 16-year-old sailed solo and non-stop around the world, returning to Sydney Harbour in Ella's Pink Lady in 2010?

Jessica Watson spent 210 days at sea, arriving back on 15 May 2010, three days before her 17th birthday. Her pink yacht was a 10-metre Sparkman & Stephens 34.

Which former mountain-bike world cup champion became the first Australian to win the Tour de France, in 2011?

Cadel Evans won the 2011 Tour riding for BMC Racing, two years after taking the road race world championship in Mendrisio, Switzerland. He had won the mountain-bike World Cup in 1998 and 1999.

Patty Mills scored 42 points as the Boomers beat which nation for Australia's first Olympic men's basketball medal?

Slovenia, led by Luka Doncic, lost the Tokyo 2020 bronze-medal game 107-93 after the Boomers had lost every previous Olympic bronze match they played.

Former schoolteacher Jeff Horn upset which Filipino great in the 2017 'Battle of Brisbane' at Suncorp Stadium?

Manny Pacquiao lost his WBO welterweight belt on a unanimous decision to Horn, a former PE teacher at Pallara State School, before a crowd of more than 50,000.

Which mare, named from the first two letters of five tuna-company employees, won three straight Melbourne Cups?

Makybe Diva won in 2003, 2004 and 2005, the only horse to take the Cup three times; owner Tony Santic named her after Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Diane and Vanessa.

Which Chris Waller-trained mare retired in 2019 on a 33-race winning streak that included four Cox Plates?

Winx, ridden by Hugh Bowman, was the first horse to win the Cox Plate four times, taking it every year from 2015 to 2018.

Which golfer holed a playoff putt against Angel Cabrera in 2013 to become the first Australian to win the Masters?

Adam Scott sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole in 2013, wielding a long putter in the Augusta rain. It was his first major.

Which golfer, world number one for 331 weeks, blew a six-shot final-round lead to Nick Faldo at the 1996 Masters?

Greg Norman shot 78 to Faldo's 67 and lost by five; his 'Great White Shark' nickname nods to his blond hair, his aggressive play and the coastal wildlife of his Queensland birthplace.

Which left-hander is the only player to complete tennis's calendar-year Grand Slam twice, seven years apart?

Rod Laver swept all four majors in 1962 and again in 1969, and was barred from them for five years in between because he had turned professional.

Australia's Kookaburras, who won their first Olympic gold at Athens 2004, compete in which sport?

Hockey's Kookaburras finally won gold under coach Barry Dancer after decades of near misses, including Olympic silver medals in 1968 and 1992.

Which striker, Australia's all-time leading international scorer, captained the Matildas' 2023 home World Cup squad?

Sam Kerr's side beat France in a 20-kick shoot-out to become the first senior Australian team to reach a World Cup semi-final. She has scored more than 70 international goals.

Which Australian won the Athens 2004 200 m freestyle 'Race of the Century' ahead of van den Hoogenband and Phelps?

Ian Thorpe edged the Dutchman in the last 50 metres for his second gold of the Games, while Phelps took bronze in an American record.

Which Australian swimmer beat Katie Ledecky by 0.66 seconds to win the 400 m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics?

Ariarne Titmus clocked 3:56.69 to beat the American, and her coach Dean Boxall's wild celebration in the stands went viral within hours.

Which swimmer's seven medals at Tokyo 2020 equalled the most by any woman at a single Olympics?

Emma McKeon's four golds and three bronzes tied Soviet gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya's 1952 haul and made her Australia's most decorated Olympian.

At which Brisbane ground did India end Australia's 32-year unbeaten Test record in January 2021?

The Gabba, officially the Brisbane Cricket Ground, had not seen Australia lose a Test since 1988 before Rishabh Pant's unbeaten 89 chased down the target.

Whose 1,000th AFL goal in 2022 brought thousands of Sydney Swans fans pouring onto the SCG mid-match?

Lance Franklin became the sixth player in VFL/AFL history to reach 1,000 goals, kicking four against Geelong in round two; play paused while the ground was cleared.

Which Holden driver won the Bathurst 1000 a record nine times before dying in a 2006 rally crash?

Peter Brock's Mount Panorama record earned him the nickname 'King of the Mountain'; he died at 61 when his car hit a tree in the Targa West rally near Perth.

Which Perth-born Formula One driver turned the 'shoey', champagne drunk from his own race boot, into a podium ritual?

Daniel Ricciardo took his first win at the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix, passing Sergio Perez and Nico Rosberg in the final four laps.

Which swimmer scraped into the Atlanta 1996 1500 m final by 0.24 seconds, then won gold from lane eight?

Kieren Perkins was the only swimmer under 15 minutes in that final, defending the title he had won in a world record at Barcelona 1992.

Which 15-year-old won three Munich 1972 golds, each in world-record time, after holding every freestyle world record?

Shane Gould held every freestyle record from 100 m to 1500 m at once between December 1971 and August 1972, then quit racing at 16.

Which sprinter won three golds at Melbourne 1956 and is the only Olympian with 100, 200 and 400 m titles?

Betty Cuthbert, the 'Golden Girl', came back from injury to win the 400 m at Tokyo 1964, eight years after her home-Games treble.

Which miler stopped to check on a fallen Ron Clarke in the 1956 Australian championships and still won?

John Landy, the second man to run a four-minute mile, made up the lost ground in the final two laps; he later served as Governor of Victoria.

Which Australian won the 1966 Formula One title in a car bearing his own name, a feat no other driver has matched?

Jack Brabham's three world titles came in 1959, 1960 and 1966, the last at the wheel of a Brabham-Repco he built with designer Ron Tauranac.

Which rider won MotoGP titles with Ducati in 2007 and Honda in 2011, then retired at 27 citing burnout?

Casey Stoner won his home Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island six years running from 2007 to 2012, and the circuit later named a corner after him.

Which track cyclist broke her neck in 2008, won Beijing silver seven months later, and carried the flag at Rio 2016?

Anna Meares beat Britain's Victoria Pendleton 2-0 in the London 2012 sprint final, then won keirin bronze in Rio as the team's captain.

Which Wiradjuri player from Barellan won Wimbledon in 1980, the first mother to take the title since 1914?

Evonne Goolagong had first won Wimbledon in 1971 aged 19, the same year she took the French Open, and was the third of eight children.

Which serve-volleyer won back-to-back US Opens in 1997 and 1998 and lost Wimbledon finals in 2000 and 2001?

Pat Rafter lost those finals to Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanisevic, and was named Australian of the Year in 2002.

Which golfer from Ayr, Queensland, won seven majors and is the only player to complete the 'Super Career Grand Slam'?

Karrie Webb completed the 'Super Career Grand Slam' at the 2002 Women's British Open, which had only become a major the year before.

Which club won the 2016 AFL premiership from seventh on the ladder, ending a drought stretching back to 1954?

The Western Bulldogs beat the Sydney Swans by 22 points before 99,981 at the MCG, the first flag ever won from seventh place.

Which media tycoon's World Series Cricket, launched in 1977, brought coloured clothing and matches under lights?

Kerry Packer's breakaway ran for two seasons on his Nine Network after he was refused TV rights, and helmets and field restrictions also date from it.

Which all-rounder debuted for Australia in both cricket and football at 16 and has played ICC and FIFA World Cups?

Ellyse Perry was the first player to appear at both ICC and FIFA World Cups, scoring against Sweden at the 2011 women's football World Cup in Germany.

Australia's Steelers won Paralympic gold in 2012 and 2016 in which full-contact sport once marketed as murderball?

Wheelchair rugby's Steelers beat Canada for their first gold in London, then the United States 59-58 in double overtime in Rio.

Which nine-time Paralympic champion racer lit the cauldron at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics opening ceremony?

Louise Sauvage also won the Boston Marathon four times, in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2001, alongside four silvers at her four Paralympic Games.

Heather McKay lost only two matches in her career and won sixteen straight British Opens in which racquet sport?

Squash great Heather McKay went unbeaten from 1962 until she retired in 1979, then won US racquetball championships into the 1980s.

What nickname was given to the Australian coxless four that won rowing gold at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996?

The Oarsome Foursome crews, built around Nick Green, Mike McKay, James Tomkins and Drew Ginn, carried the name through a lineage of Olympic boats from 1990 to 2012.

Australia's failure to win a single gold at which Olympics prompted the founding of the Australian Institute of Sport?

Montreal 1976 was branded a national embarrassment, and the institute opened in 1981 on a 66-hectare campus in the Canberra suburb of Bruce.

Which bantamweight beat Fighting Harada in Tokyo in 1968 to become the first Aboriginal world boxing champion?

Lionel Rose was named Australian of the Year that same year, the first Indigenous Australian to receive the honour.

Which race walker received his London 2012 gold medal four years late after Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin's doping ban?

Jared Tallent was upgraded from silver in March 2016 when the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided Kirdyapkin's results, and the medal was finally hung on him in Melbourne.

Which runner, Australia's only competitor at the 1896 Athens Olympics, won both the 800 m and the 1500 m?

Edwin Flack, dubbed the 'Lion of Athens', also played in the tennis singles and doubles at those Games and collapsed while leading the marathon.

Which swimmer, with 13 golds and 23 medals, is Australia's most successful Paralympian and later a state MP?

Matthew Cowdrey won the South Australian seat of Colton for the Liberals in 2018, six years after his final Games in London.

Which sprinter won the 100 and 200 m at Helsinki 1952 and later served as Governor of South Australia?

Marjorie Jackson, the 'Lithgow Flash', equalled the world record of 11.5 in the 100 m and held the vice-regal post from 2001 to 2007.

At which Sydney beach did Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku demonstrate surfboard riding on Christmas Eve 1914?

Freshwater keeps the board Kahanamoku shaped from timber bought from a Sydney firm on display in its surf club, and a statue of him stands on the headland.

Which Gold Coast hurdler won the London 2012 100 m hurdles in an Olympic record 12.35 seconds?

Sally Pearson also won world titles in 2011 and 2017, the latter after two seasons lost to a shattered wrist and hamstring injuries.

Which Peter Moody-trained sprinter retired unbeaten in 25 starts after winning at Royal Ascot in 2012?

Black Caviar won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes by a head from Moonlight Cloud on rain-softened turf after jockey Luke Nolen eased up too early.

Which Australian beat three-time champion Serena Williams in the 2011 US Open final for her only major title?

Samantha Stosur won 6-2, 6-3 in a final remembered for Williams berating the umpire over a hindrance call.