Golden Sunday marks Olympic history

AUSTRALIA has officially had its most golden day in the history of the Olympics after Matt Wearn claimed the men’s sailing laser on Sunday afternoon.

Wearn’s gold was Australia’s fourth of the day after Emma McKeon won the 50 freestyle, Logan Martin claimed the freestyle BMX and the Aussie girls saluted in the 4×100 medley relay.

Four gold medals on one day surpasses Australia’s previous best of three which was achieved on five occasions.

One of those was on Wednesday courtesy of Ariarne Titmus and two rowing wins, while it’s also occurred on a single day in 2008, 2004, 2000 and 1956.

When Martin secured Australia’s third in the BMX in the early afternoon it was all but set that the nation’s most successful day would occur as Wearn had built an unassailable lead heading into the final day of the men’s laser.

With the men’s laser being completed across 11 races, Wearn had built up an unassailable lead heading into the final race where he only needed to attempt to start and finish to claim gold.

As a result, finishing second in today’s race was more than enough to take home the big prize.

The victory was Australia’s third straight gold medal in the event, following the victories recorded by Tom Slingsby in 2012 and Tom Burton in 2016.

 

– BY LACHIE GELEIT/ SEN