The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, office holders, and people who maintained sporting facilities and services. During the original period of its award in 2000–2001, over 18,000 medals were awarded. The award was permanently reactivated in 2020 to commemorate Australian contributions and participation in major multi-sport events.

Description

* The medal is circular and made of

nickel-silver Nickel silver, Maillechort, German silver, Argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata, alpacca, is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver does not contain the elem ...

with a highly polished finish. The obverse design symbolises Australian sport featuring the stars of the

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

, and lines depicting the athletics track at the Australian Sports Stadium. * The reverse features the same lines as the obverse symbolising the athletics track, with the words ‘to commemorate Australian sporting achievement’ appearing in the raised rim of the medal. The reverse is also marked with the year ‘2000’. * The medal is suspended from a 32 mm ribbon by a connector piece and ring. The ribbon’s colours are Australia’s national sporting colours green and yellow.

History

The Prime Minister announced the creation of the Australian Sports Medal on 31 December 1998 and was formally established on 23 December 1999 by Letters Patent. The medals were first awarded during the year 2000 and were discontinued in 2001. On 4 December 2020, the

Queen of Australia Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

assented to amendments to the regulations for the Australian Sports Medal, which reactivated awards to commemorate Australian sporting participation in major multi-sports events, including: * Invictus Games (from 2018) * International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS) Global Games (from 2019) *

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in ...

World Summer Games (from 2019) *Special Olympics World Winter Games (from 2021) *

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 ...

(from 2020) *

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

(from 2022) * Summer

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

(from 2020) * Winter Paralympic Games (from 2022) *

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

(from 2022)

How it is awarded

The Australian Sports Medal is awarded by the Governor-General. This commemorative medal was introduced to recognise Australian sporting achievements. The medal acknowledges a range of Australians who, in different ways, contributed to the nation’s sporting success. Recipients included former competitors, coaches, sports scientists, office holders, and people who maintain sporting facilities and services. Most of the medals were presented to people following their nomination by the sports community. Peak sports bodies recognised or funded by the Australian Sports Commission were given quotas according to a formula based on the number of their registered competitors. All Australian parliamentarians could make nominations. The Australian Sports Medal does not carry a post-nominal entitlement. With the reactivation of the award in 2020, details regarding the eligibility criteria, administration and application process have yet to be released, and new applications are not yet accepted for the award. On announcing the reactivation of the medal on 18 December 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that the medal "will enable official members of Australian teams who participate in eligible international multi-sport events to be awarded the medal ..The Australian Sports Medal will be awarded to eligible Australian team members and officials in recognition of their participation at international multi-sport events, and a number of international events for people with a disability."

Recipients

The Australian Sports Medal has been awarded to various notable sportsmen and women, and among them are the following: * Gary Ablett, Sr * Willie Carne. For contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league * Cathy Freeman *

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...

Tim Macartney-Snape Tim Macartney-Snape (born 5 January 1956) is a mountaineer and author. On 3 October 1984 Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer were the first Australians to reach the summit of Mount Everest. They reached the summit, climbing without supplementa ...

. For service to mountaineering. * James Hardy (sailor). for being an Olympic Australian sailor and America's Cup skipper * Bob Fordham. For services to Australian rugby union.

References

External links