Ariarne Titmus and Jess Fox tipped for gold as Australia predicted for 24-year first at Olympics
The official predictions have been released ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Australia is being tipped to finish fifth on the medal table at the Paris Olympics, with the forecast from Nielsen's Gracenote Sports predicting our best result since the 2000 Games in Sydney. Gracenote Sports supplies statistical analysis for sporting leagues across the globe and tracks major competitions involving Olympic sports leading up to the Games.
The official forecast is for Australia to 54 medals in Paris - 15 gold, 23 silver and 16 bronze. If the numbers are on the money, it would mark the sixth time Australia has won more than 40 medals in the past eight Olympic Games, and our best overall performance since Sydney 2000.
The United States are being tipped to win the most medals, with China unlikely to overtake the US in the overall haul. However China have been predicted to give the US a scare in terms of most gold medals.
The United States are projected to win 112 medals overall - 39 gold, 32 silver and 41 bronze. China are being tipped to win 86 overall - 34 gold, 27 silver and 25 bronze. Great Britain are next with 63 medals and 17 gold, followed by France (60-27), Australia (54-15), Japan (47-13), Italy (46-11), Germany (35-11), Netherlands (34-16) and South Korea (26-9).
Female athletes tipped to shine for Australia at Paris Olympics
The Aussies are predicted to win 10 of their 15 gold medals in the pool - and it's our female athletes being tipped to shine. Ariarne Titmus is forecast to win gold in the 200m and 400m freestyle, as well as silver in the 800m. And Kaylee McKeown is tipped for gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke, and silver in the 200m individual medley.
Eight of the 10 gold medals Australia is predicted to win in swimming are for female athletes, with Zac Stubblety-Cook (200m breaststroke) and Cameron McEvoy (50m freestyle) the only males. Mollie O'Callaghan is the other individual athlete tipped to win gold in the pool for Australia in the 100m freestyle, while our relay teams are also expected to medal.
Jessica Fox is another Aussie tipped to win multiple gold medals. The Aussie veteran is being predicted to defend her gold medal in the C1 and win a second in the K1, but is only forecast to win silver in the slalom cross. Logan Martin is also being tipped to win gold in the BMX freestyle park discipline, as are Grace Brown in the women's individual road cycling time trial, and Matthew Wearn in the ILCA 7 sailing division.
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USA expected to top medal tally again at Paris Olympics
The forecast for America to top the medal table should come as no surprise. The US and China finished 1-2 in overall and gold medals in Tokyo in 2021, and an America triumph would be the eighth-consecutive they've won the most overall medals at the Summer Olympics. The last time the US didn't win the most medals was in 1992 in Barcelona, when the Unified team - composed of athletes from the former Soviet Union just after it broke up as a sovereign state - topped the tally.
The last time the US didn't win the most gold medals was in 2008 in Beijing, when the host nation China did so. Countries hosting the Olympics always get a surge in medals, and France are expected to almost triple the number of golds they won in Tokyo.
with AAP
