Ahead of the final day of action at Paris La Defense Arena, Australia leads the swimming medal tally with seven golds, narrowly ahead of rival the United States with six.
The Dolphins are one gold medal away from their most successful Olympic campaign in history, while it’s been 68 years since Australia finished above the United States on the swimming table.
There are three races remaining in the Paris Olympics swimming meet, with the United States looming as favourites to clinch gold in multiple events.
However, Australian superstar Mollie O’Callghan remains confident the Dolphins can create history on Monday morning AEST.
“I will always back the Dolphins no matter what,” O’Callghan said.
“I’m Australian, so I have to do that. But no matter what, I think we’ll be very proud.
“It’s a smaller country, a smaller team, to have this much success in such a short amount of time and have everyone stand up and absolutely swim their heart out means everything.
“And at the end of the day, it’s not about the medals, it’s about the team.”
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Australia’s Meg Harris clinched silver in the women’s 50m freestyle after notching a personal best time of in the 23.97s. Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem, the 100m freestyle champion, won another gold after touching the wall at 23.71s, with China’s Yufei joining them on the podium.
“I have no words,” Harris told Channel 9.
“You always go out there with the hopes that you’re going to do your best.”
Fellow Dolphins star Shayna Jack finished eighth with a time of 24.39s.
McKeown takes Bronze after DQ | 01:18
DAY 9 SWIMMING SCHEDULE
2.30am — Women’s 50m Freestyle Final (Shayna Jack, Meg Harris)
2.37am — Men’s 1500m Freestyle Final
3.12am — Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay Final (Australia)
3.35am — Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay Final (Australia)
SWIMMING MEDAL TALLY AFTER DAY 8
1. Australia — 7 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze (16 overall)
2. United States — 6 gold, 12 silver, 7 bronze (25 overall)
3. France — 4 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze (six overall)
4. Canada — 3 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze (eight overall)
5. Hungary — 2 gold, one silver (three overall)
6. Italy — 2 gold, 2 bronze (two overall)
7. Great Britain — 1 gold, 4 silver (five overall)
8. China — 1 gold, three silver, five bronze (nine overall)
9. South Africa — 1 gold, 1 silver (two overall)
10. Germany — 1 gold, 1 bronze (two overall)
11. Ireland — 1 gold, 1 bronze (two overall)
12. Romania — 1 gold, 1 bronze (two overall)
13. Sweden — 1 gold (one overall)
14. Greece — 1 silver (one overall)
15. Japan — 1 silver (one overall)
16. Hong Kong — 2 bronze (two overall)
17. Netherlands — 2 bronze (two overall)
18. Republic of Korea — 1 bronze (one overall)
19. Switzerland — 1 bronze (1 overall)
Ledecky takes out 800m battle in rivalry | 01:07
Source Agencies
