A total of 433 competitors competed for Australia at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

in Beijing. The team was Australia's second largest away team after the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, which included a team of 482 competitors. Australian athletes have competed in every

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

of the modern era. In addition to competitors, 418 officials and 38 medical personnel were part of the Australian team. Australia competed in 26 of the 28 Olympic program sports; they failed to qualify in baseball and

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

. Australia also sent a men's but not a women's

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

squad, and had two

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of th ...

but no

indoor volleyball Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

teams competing.

Medalists

Archery

Australia had two archers earn qualification spots at the 2007 World Outdoor Target Championships and three earn spots at the Oceania continental championship. David Barnes and Sky Kim earned the men two spots at the World tournament, with

Michael Naray Michael Naray (born 3 August 1970 in Sydney, Australia) is an Olympic competitor for archery representing Australia. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.Jade Lindsey and Jane Waller were the qualifying women at the Oceania tournament. In making its final selections, Australia selected Kim and Naray along with Matthew Gray for the men's team, and Waller and

Lexie Feeney Alexandra "Lexie" Feeney (born 3 July 1989 in Penrith) is an athlete from Australia who competes in archery. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.

for the women's team. ;Men ;Women

Athletics

Australia sent 40 representatives to compete in athletics events. 22 of these men competed in track events, ten in

field events Throwing sports, or throwing games, are physical, human competitions where the outcome is measured by a player's ability to throw an object. The two primary forms are throwing for distance and throwing at a given target or range. The four most p ...

, seven in

race walking Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

, four in the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

s and one in

combined events Combined track and field events are competitions in which athletes participate in a number of track and field events, earning points for their performance in each event, which adds to a total points score. Outdoors, the most common combined event ...

. The

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

did not start until the 15th of August, day seven of competition. On day one of athletics, two finals were held but no Australians qualified to compete in either. On the second day of athletics, Australia won their first Olympic Medal for athletics in 2008. This person was

Jared Tallent Jared Tallent OAM (born 17 October 1984) is an Australian race walker and Olympic gold medallist in the 50 km walk from London in 2012. He is a four-time Olympic medallist, three-time World Championship medallist and holds the current Oly ...

, an Olympic debutant, who competed in the men's 20kilometre race walk. Tallent came third, only 15second in front of fellow countryman Luke Adams who finished 6th. On the third day of competition, four Australians competed, three in medal events. ;Men ;Track & road events ;Field events ;Women ;Track & road events ;Field events ;Combined events –

Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

;Notes

Badminton

Australia sent a team of six to Beijing. Stuart Gomez competed in the men's singles, while Erin Carroll competed in women's singles. Ross Smith and Glenn Warfe competed in the men's doubles and Tania Luiz and Eugenia Tanaka competed in the women's doubles.

Basketball

Australia's men's basketball team qualified for the Olympics by defeating New Zealand in a best-of-three series to win the

FIBA Oceania Championship 2007 The FIBA Oceania Championship for Men 2007 was the qualifying tournament of FIBA Oceania for the men's basketball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics at Beijing. The tournament, a best-of-three series between Australia and New Zealand, was h ...

. The women's team automatically qualified as the reigning world champions after winning the

2006 FIBA World Championship for Women The 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women took place in Brazil from September 12 to September 23, 2006. It was co-organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and Confederação Brasileira de Basketball, the Brazilian national fe ...

Men's tournament

;Roster ;Group play ;Quarterfinals

Women's tournament

;Roster ;Group play ;Quarterfinals ;Semifinals ;Gold medal match

Boxing

Australia had nine boxers qualify for the Olympics. All qualified at the Oceanian qualifying tournament.AIBA Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament

Canoeing

Slalom

Sprint

;Men ;Women Qualification Legend: QS = Qualify to semi-final; QF = Qualify directly to final

Cycling

Australia selected competitors in all four cycling disciplines – BMX, mountain biking, road racing and track racing. Mountain biker

Chris Jongewaard Chris Jongewaard (born ) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist. For the mountain bike event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Jongewaard lost his legal appeal to be included in the team after being excluded because of a car accident, in ...

lost his legal appeal to be included in the team after being excluded because of a car accident, involving another cyclist for which he was due to face court in late 2008.

Road

;Men ;Women

Track

;Sprint * Qualified only in the first round ;Pursuit ;Keirin Bobridge, meares and kelly

;Omnium

Mountain biking

BMX

Diving

Australia selected a team of nine divers to compete at the 2008 Olympics: ;Men ;Women

Equestrian

Australia selected a team of twelve equestrians to compete at the 2008 Olympics.

Hayley Beresford Hayley Beresford (born 26 June 1978 in Kellerberin, Western Australia) is an Australian equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in ...

, Kristy Oatley and Heath Ryan competed in dressage. Edwina Alexander, Laurie Lever, Peter McMahon and Matt Williams were selected for the jumping competition. Clayton Fredericks,

Lucinda Fredericks Lucinda Fredericks (née Murray; born 28 September 1965) is an equestrian athlete who competes in eventing. Having formerly competed for Great Britain, she now represents Australia. Riding Headley Britannia, she has won three CCI 4* events; win ...

, Sonja Johnson, Megan Jones and Shane Rose were selected for the three-day event.

Dressage

Eventing

# - Indicates that points do not count in team total
* Only three riders are eligible to qualify for the jumping final.

Show jumping

Fencing

Two fencers will represent Australia in Beijing. Jo Halls will contest the women's individual

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...

while Amber Parkinson will contest the women's individual

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contain ...

. ;Women

Field hockey

The Australian men's and women's field hockey teams both qualified for Beijing. The men's team won the bronze medal, while the women's team finished in 5th place for the tournament.

Men's tournament

;Roster ;Group play The top two teams from each group advanced to the semifinals. ;Semifinal ;Bronze medal match

Women's tournament

;Roster ;Group play The top two teams from each group advanced to the semifinals. Australia were eliminated on goal difference with China and entered the playoff for 5th/6th place. ;Classification match for 5th/6th place

Football (soccer)

Men's tournament

Australia's under-23 football team, commonly referred to as the 'Olyroos', qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics. ;Roster ;Group play

Gymnastics

Australian gymnasts qualified for Beijing in all three categories: artistic, rhythmic and trampoline. Naazmi Johnston was the only rhythmic gymast to qualify. Ben Wilden was the only trampolinist selected in the squad and Samuel Simpson was the only male artistic gymnast but a full women's artistic gymnastic team of six qualified:

Artistic

;Men ;Women ;Individual finals

Rhythmic

Trampoline

Judo

Australia has selected a team of 13 for the 2008 Games: ;Men ;Women

Modern pentathlon

Alexander Parygin Alexander Parygin (born 25 April 1973) is a Kazakhstani-Australian modern pentathlete and Olympic champion. He competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta where he won the individual gold medal.Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, was initially due to be Australia's only male competitor in the modern pentathlon. His qualification was overturned "on technical grounds" by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, when the Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain argued that he had failed to meet "eligibility criteria of 5,100 points at the relevant international competition, during the Olympic qualification period". Specifically, Parygin qualified for Beijing during a competition which lacked the equestrian event."Brits want Aussie Al out of Games"
''Sydney Morning Herald'', 1 July 2008. There being no avenue of appeal, Parygin will not compete in Beijing. Angie Darby made her Olympic debut as the only Australian female in the competition. Darby, having qualified in the same conditions as Parygin, had her participation in the Games open to question, but she eventually competed.

Rowing

For the first time, Australia qualified for every rowing event at an Olympics. ;Men ;Women Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage

Sailing

Australia competed in ten of the eleven sailing events. ;Men ;Women ;Open M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race; CAN = Race cancelled; OCS = On the course side of the starting line; BFD – Black flag disqualification; DNF – Did not finish

Shooting

Australia has selected a squad of seventeen sport shooters to contest the 2008 Olympic competition: ;Men ;Women

Softball

The Australian softball team has qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The team selected to compete in the games is: * Jodie Bowering * Kylie Cronk * Kelly Hardie *

Tanya Harding Tanya Victoria Harding (born 23 January 1972 in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian softball player, who has competed for Australia at four consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996. Three times she claimed a bronze medal (1996, ...

Sandy Lewis Alexander Ashley Lewis ( 22 January 1931 – 9 May 2016), known as Sandy Lewis, was an Australian politician who represented the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Blackwood from 1972 until 1974, and one of the two Legislative C ...

Simmone Morrow Simmone Morrow (born 31 October 1976 in Cowell, South Australia) is a softball player from Australia, who won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( e ...

* Tracey Mosley * Stacey Porter *

Melanie Roche Melanie Jane Roche (born 9 November 1970 in Bankstown, New South Wales) is a softball player from Australia. She has won a bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics and 2000 Summer Olympics, a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics along w ...

* Justine Smethurst *

Danielle Stewart Danielle Stewart (born 29 July 1981 in Brisbane, Queensland) is a softball player from Australia, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. A short stop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding positi ...

* Natalie Titcume * Natalie Ward * Belinda Wright * Kerry Wyborn Group stage The top four teams will advance to the semifinal round. Semifinal Preliminary final

Swimming

Australia sent 43 swimmers to Beijing. The men's team won 3 silver and 3 bronze medals, while the women's team won 6 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals and set 4 world records. The members of the swim team and their results were: ;Men * Competed in the heats only ;Women * Competed in the heats only

Synchronised swimming

Australia has qualified both a duet and a group entry in synchronised swimming.

Table tennis

Australia has qualified both men's and women's table tennis teams for Beijing. Each team includes three competitors. The men's team is Kyle Davis, William Henzell and David Zalcberg. The women's team is

Lay Jian Fang Jian Fang Lay-Hong (; born 6 March 1973), is a right-handed Chinese-born Australian ladies table tennis player. She plays penhold, with a long pimple rubber at one side for use of attacking, blocking as well as chopping. She is currently number ...

, Miao Miao and Stephanie Sang Xu. ;Men's singles ;Women's singles ;Team

Taekwondo

Four Australians have qualified for the Beijing Olympics. Ryan Carneli will compete in the men's under 58 kg division and Burak Hasan in the men's 58–68 kg division. Carmen Marton will compete in the women's over 67 kg division and Tina Morgan in the women's 57–67 kg division.

Tennis

Australia has qualified two men and three women for the singles competition in Beijing while two doubles pairs have qualified in each of the men's and women's draws. The team is: ;Men ;Women

Triathlon

Five Australians were selected to compete in the triathlon at the 2008 Olympics. Courtney Atkinson and

Brad Kahlefeldt Bradley Kahlefeldt (born 27 July 1979) is an Australian triathlete born in Temora, NSW. Kahlefeldt has lived in the city of Wagga Wagga since 1982. Brad now splits his time between the Gold Coast and France during the European summ ...

will contest the men's competition while

Erin Densham Erin Densham (born 3 May 1985 in Camden, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian professional triathlete and bronze medallist in the 2012 Olympics. Early life Erin Densham attended the Ruse Public School and the John Therry Catholic High ...

Emma Moffatt Emma Moffatt (born 7 September 1984) is a retired Australian professional triathlete. She won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and won the gold at the ITU Triathlon World Championships in 2009 and in 2010. She was born in ...

and

Emma Snowsill Emma Laura Snowsill OAM (born 15 June 1981) is an Australian professional triathlete and multiple gold medalist in the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. She won the gold medal in triathlon at the 2008 Olympics. Snowsill is marrie ...

will battle it out for the women's title.

Volleyball

Beach

Two teams qualified for the Olympics: the women's team Barnett-Cook ( Tamsin Barnett and

Natalie Cook Natalie Louise Cook (born 19 January 1975) is an Australian professional beach volleyball player and Olympic gold medallist. She became the first Australian woman to compete at five Olympic Games. Early life Cook was born in Townsville, Que ...

), and the men's team Schacht-Slack ( Andrew Schacht and Joshua Slack).

Water polo

Australia participated in both the men's and the women's tournaments. The men's team finished in 8th place, while the women's team won the bronze medal. Australia's squads included three sets of siblings:

Jamie Jamie is a unisex name. It is a diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names. It is also given as a name in its own right. People Female * Jamie Anne Allman (born 1977), American actress * Jamie Babbit (born 1970), American film and t ...

and

Gemma Beadsworth Gemma Jane Beadsworth (born 17 July 1987) is an Australian water polo centre forward. She has had scholarships for water polo from the Australian Institute of Sport and the Western Australian Institute of Sport. She plays for the Fremantle Marl ...

, the Santoromito sisters and the Rippon sisters.

Kate Gynther Kate Maree Gynther (born 5 July 1982) is an Australian water polo player. She plays for the Brisbane Barracudas in the National Water Polo League. She represented Australia as a member of the women's senior national team at the 2004 Summer Ol ...

is also a stepsister of the Rippons. ( Bronwen and Emma Knox are unrelated.)

Men's tournament

;Roster ;Group play All times are

China Standard Time The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00 (eight hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time), even though the country spans almost five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called ''Beijing ...

(

UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...

). ;Classification round ;Classification semi-final ;Classification 7th–8th

Women's tournament

;Roster ;Group play All times are

(

). ;Semifinal ;Bronze medal game

Weightlifting

Two Australians will compete in the weightlifting at Beijing. Damon Kelly will lift in the men's over 105 kg class and Deborah Lovely in women's over 75 kg class.

Wrestling

Four wrestlers represented Australia at the 2008 Games:. None of them made it past the qualification round. ;Men's freestyle ;Men's Greco-Roman ;Women's freestyle

Media coverage

In Australia, both the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

and SBS TV provided television coverage of the games. Live web video streaming of selected events was provided by

Yahoo!7 Yahoo! Australia (formerly Yahoo7 between 2006 and 2018) is the Australian subsidiary of global internet company Yahoo! Originally a 50/50 joint venture between Yahoo! and Seven West Media, it has been a 100% subsidiary of Verizon Media since ...

. Radio station

2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total radio ra ...

held the exclusive Sydney radio rights through the Seven Network, while in other capital cities commercial partners were joined by

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...

in providing radio coverage. Additionally,

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 2 ...

broadcast Seven's coverage and that of selected events to 3G mobile phones via the

Next G Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

network. An estimated eight million viewers in Australia watched the televised broadcast of the

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

, the largest number ever, surpassing that of the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

opening ceremony. Seven was the only network to televise the Opening Ceremony in Australia. Seven has been criticised for broadcasting

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling ...

games in lieu of Olympic events with Australian athletes in contention for medals, as well as for the quality of their coverage in general. The network cited existing contractual obligations for their AFL scheduling. In response, the AFL made concessions to Seven that allowed more Olympics coverage to be broadcast in certain markets. During the closing days of the games, Seven and the rival

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

engaged in a "bidding war" to secure athletes, particularly gold medalists, for exclusive contracts to appear on their respective programs.

Stephanie Rice Stephanie Louise Rice, OAM (born 17 June 1988) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009. On 9 April 2 ...

signed a $800,000 two-year contract with Seven, and as a result withdrew (along with several other athletes) from being filmed for Nine's ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...

'' hours before the show. Both networks are fighting for the lead in the Australian television ratings and, whilst Seven has broadcast the last several Olympics, Nine will be co-broadcasting with

Foxtel Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...

the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

in London. The International Olympic Committee later awarded Seven its Golden Rings Award for "Best Olympic Programme". The award is given for the best overall Olympic coverage.

External links

Official website of Australia's team for the Beijing Olympics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Australia At The 2008 Summer Olympics Nations at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

Medalists

Archery

Athletics

Badminton

Basketball

Men's tournament

Women's tournament

Boxing

Canoeing

Slalom

Sprint

Cycling

Road

Track

Mountain biking

BMX

Diving

Equestrian

Dressage

Eventing

Show jumping

Fencing

Field hockey

Men's tournament

Women's tournament

Football (soccer)

Men's tournament

Gymnastics

Artistic

Rhythmic

Trampoline

Judo

Modern pentathlon

Rowing

Sailing

Shooting

Softball

Swimming

Synchronised swimming

Table tennis

Taekwondo

Tennis

Triathlon

Volleyball

Beach

Water polo

Men's tournament

Women's tournament

Weightlifting

Wrestling

Media coverage

See also

External links

References