1912 STOCKHOLM
The first Western Australian to represent at an Olympic Games was Frank Schryver who took part in the 5th of the modern Games at Stockholm in 1912. Frank came in 4th in the heat of the 200m breastroke in a time of 3:24. (In 2003, Jim Piper won the Australian Championship in a time of 2:12.00)

1936 BERLIN
In 1936 West Australian Swimmers, Percy Oliver and Evelyn de Lacy represented Australia at the 1936 Games in Berlin. At a personal cost of 200 pounds per athlete, the team of 33 set sail for Europe on the ship Magnolia. The ship stopped in Fremantle to collect Oliver and de Lacy, as well as a live kangaroo mascot called “Aussie” for eventual presentation to the commandant of the Olympic Village. De Lacy finished 5th in the semi final of the 100m freestyle and 5th in the heat of the 400m freestyle. Oliver finished a creditable 7th in the final of the 100m backstroke in a time of 1:10.7, outstanding when compared with Matt Welch’s 2003 National Championship title win in 54.49.

1948 LONDON
After a 12-year break due to the second World War, the world welcomed back the Olympic Games to London in 1948. 77 Australians, including 5 West Australians competed at these Games. The Australian Olympic Foundation covered the cost of 34 Olympians, and then the individual sports and the State Olympic Councils raised the funds for the balance of the team to attend the Games. John Winter recalls standing in a boxing ring with Shirley Strickland, being introduced to the crowd, both shielding their eyes and heads as two-shilling donations to the Olympic Fund were showered into the ring. With the exception of the 10 water polo players who travelled by ship, the team became the first ever to travel by air from Australia to an Olympic Games.

Australia returned with 2 Gold, 6 Silver and 5 Bronze medals. WA athlete John Winter won the first Gold Medal of a WA athlete in the men’s high jump, with a height of 6ft 6in or 1.98m. John is still the only Australian to win an Olympic High Jump title. Shirley Strickland came away with a Bronze in the 100m, Bronze in the 80m hurdles and a Silver in the 4x100m relay. Shirley also finished 4th in the 200m final and even though photograph evidence was discovered in 1975 that showed Strickland actually finished 3rd, it is testament of her nature as a true sportswoman, that Strickland requested that the Amateur Athletic Union of WA not follow up on this error. With her 7 medals, Shirley is the 2nd most decorated Track & Field female Olympian in the world, and is the Australia’s 3rd highest female winner of Olympic medals across all sports, behind Susie O’Neill and Petria Thomas.

1952 HELSINKI
In 1952, nominated athletes were given the chance to raise their own fares of 750 pounds apiece. But there was one catch, even if they raised the money, they could still not make the trip unless the fare of the person ranked above them had been paid.

Australia returned with 6 Gold, 2 Silver & 3 Bronze. Strickland’s domination continued with a Bronze in the 100m, Gold in the 80m hurdles and 5th in the 4x100m relay. Other West Australians to join Strickland in the 1952 Olympic Team were Don Keane and Verna Johnson (Athletics) and Garrick Agnew (Swimming). 1956

1956 MELBOURNE
The 1956 Olympic Games, so historic for Melbourne and Australia, showed Australia’s love of sport as the nation embraced the Olympic Games with a fervour that has continued through into this new millennium.

The 314 strong Australian Team produced 13 Gold, 8 Silver and 14 Bronze. 24 West Aussie’s (22 athletes and 2 officials) were part of this team with Shirley Strickland, by this time a 31 year old married mother of one, retaining her 80m hurdles Olympic Title and taking out the Gold in the 4x100m relay, taking her tally to 7 Olympic medals, 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 bronze, making her one of Australia’s most successful Olympians. Swimmer, Kevin O’Halloran was part of the 4x200m freestyle relay which took gold, Graham Gipson (athletics) and Rolly Tasker (Yachting) took Silver.

1960 ROME
Our WA representation continued to grow, with 27 of the 188 Olympians competing at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome coming from WA. Herb Elliott (athletics) and David Dickson (Swimming) bought home WA’s only medals with Elliott winning the 1500m in grand style. Dickson was part of the bronze medal winning 4x200m relay team. 1960 saw WA’s first Olympians in Gymnastics, Water Polo and Basketball, with the entire WA rowing eight being named in the Olympic team.

1964 TOKYO
1964 saw the Games head to Tokyo, with 2 Boeing charter jets transporting the Australian team of 234. This was the largest team to depart Australia; in fact no bigger team would go away until twenty years later, to Los Angeles. Australia won 6 Gold, 2 Silver and 10 Bronze, 26 West Australians competed. WA’s first Olympic diver, Robyn Arlow, finished 13th in the springboard and 9th in the high board event. Henk Vogels was our first Cycling representative as a member of the 4000m pursuit. Both Arlow and Vogels children, Vyninka and Henk Jnr, went on to compete at the 1992/1996 and 1992/2000 Olympic Games respectively.

1964 was the first Games since 1948, which WA athletes had not returned with a Gold medal. David Dickson and John Ryan took Bronze in 4x100m freestyle relay with Dickson also taking Bronze in the 4x100m medley relay. The Men’s hockey team comprising of 7 West Australians including Brian Glencross, and the legendary Pearce brothers, Eric & Julian, took Bronze.

1968 MEXICO
The Australian team for Mexico was restricted to 180, 59 less than Tokyo, the first time that a selection criteria was set that looked at standards achieved in Australia and their relationship to world standards. Australia sent 143 competitors and 32 officials. The reduced team size also reflected on the WA contingent, with 14 athletes and 4 officials being named in the team. Australia won 5 Gold, 7 Silver and 5 Bronze medals, with WA athlete, Lyn McClements (McKenzie) becoming the first Australian women to win an Olympic butterfly gold medal. Lyn McKenzie is to date, the last West Australian to win an individual Olympic Gold Medal. Our dominance in Hockey continued with 7 WA athletes again representing in Hockey in Raymond Evans, Brian Glencross, Donald Martin, Donald Smart and Eric Pearce along with brothers Julian, and Gordon, who with brother Mel (1956), created history with all four brothers taking part in Olympic competition. The men’s Hockey team took Silver along with McClements and Lynne Watson (Bates) in the 4x100m medley relay.

1972 MUNICH
The Australian team that travelled to Munich in 1972 consisted of 173 athletes, of which 13 came from Western Australia. The Australian team returned with 8 Gold, 7 silver and 2 bronze, with our WA athletes not contributing to the medal tally for the first time. 1972 saw our first WA equestrian representative, Richard Sands, who finished 7th in the individual 3-day event.

1976 MONTREAL
Australia’s competitors in Montreal numbered 184, including 35 women, with West Australian Jack Howson named as General Manager of the Team. 13 athletes and 6 WA officials were part of this contingent. The expedition to Montreal cost $800,000 of which $250,000 was donated by the Federal Government and the balance raised via fundraising. The Australian medal tally decreased dramatically in Montreal, the first time since 1936 that Australia had not won a single gold medal. Australia won 5 medals, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze, with our 4 West Australian hockey players, Charlesworth, Bell, Poole and Walsh contributing the 1 silver. Of this group, all bar Poole have gone on to become Head Coach of either the Australian Men’s or Women’s hockey teams with great success.

1976 saw our first WA Olympic Canoeing representative in Jack Trail. The inquest into Australia’s performance at these Games was at times painful, but what emerged from the debate was a collection of simple truths for the AOF to address if our success on the Olympic stage was to continue.

1980 MOSCOW
One of the key areas identified in ensuring Australia’s success at the Olympic Games was to ensure athletes had access to international competition. As 1980 began, the AOC had some cause for satisfaction. They were on track to raise 2.5 million to train and send the 1980 Australian Olympic Team to Moscow. A million dollars had already been spent on international competition. At this time, the AOF attracted significant corporate sponsorship for the team. The team that competed in Moscow, comprised 123 athletes, with many national sporting federations making the decision that they would withdraw their teams from the Games. 15 West Aussies travelled to Moscow - 9 athletes and 6 officials. Australia returned with 9 medals, 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 5 Bronze. WA Swimmers Neil Brooks and Peter Evans, part of the legendary “Mean Machine”, returned with Gold in the 4x100m Medley Relay. Evans also took Bronze in the 100m breastroke.

1984 LOS ANGELES
The AOF raised over $5 million to prepare and send a 334 strong team to the Games in Los Angeles. They were also able to spend $1.3 million solely on international competition before 1984, that was more than the entire combined cost sending the nation’s Olympic Teams to Munich ($400,000) and Montreal ($800,000). This, along with the development of the Australian Institute of Sport (1981) and the WA Institute of Sport (1984) ensured that the necessary foundations for our successful Olympic future had been laid.

The Australian Team consisted of 240 athletes and returned with 24 medals from Los Angeles, 4 Gold, 8 Silver and 12 Bronze. WA’s contingent of 36 (23 athletes and 13 officials) contributed to 2 Silver and 1 Bronze with rower Tony Lovrich, part of the Quad Sculls crew that took Silver, Swimmers Neil Brooks and Peter Evans as part of the Silver medal winning 4x100m medley relay with Evans also talking Bronze in the 100m breaststroke.