Australia’s Olympic athletes have received a heroes’ welcome as they arrive home from the most successful Games in the nation’s history.
Three days after the curtain fell on the Paris Games, hundreds of athletes arrived at a rainy Sydney Airport early on Wednesday morning to be greeted by friends, family and fans, and prime minister Anthony Albanese.
Australia won 18 gold medals, 19 silver and 16 bronze for a 53-medal haul.
Emma McKeon, the most decorated Australian in Olympic history, said she’d been looking forward to touching down in Australia, calling it a special moment.
“I guess it’s just everything you train for and everything you work hard for,” McKeon said after extending her career medal haul to 14 by collecting another gold, silver and bronze in Paris.
“And I guess all the support that we’ve got around us as well, it’s just as much their medal, so I think it’s just coming home and seeing this and having my special people here and all that, it’s just it makes it all worth it.
Swimming gold medallist Cameron McEvoy said his Paris triumph more than made up for the near-misses of his previous three Olympic campaigns.
“It took four goes to be able to come back on home soil with this beauty (his gold medal) but we got there in the end,” McEvoy said.
“It’s been eight years since we’ve had a hangar introduction back on home soil post-Olympics, so that’s nice.”
Arisa Trew, the 14-year-old who won park skateboarding gold, said she was still buzzing from the Games.
“I’m probably going to go to school tomorrow, because I love going to school,” she told AAP.
“I can’t wait to see all my friends tomorrow or maybe tonight at the skate park.”
Discus bronze medallist Matthew Denny said Paris had been “an amazing experience”.
“It’s been a great reception, and I think I am just really proud of being able to do something that makes a lot of other people happy,” he said.
Team Australia was greeted by a plethora of officials including Mr Albanese, governor-general Sam Mostyn and opposition leader Peter Dutton.
