PARIS -- There had never been a day like this before. And there may well never be a day like this again.
For Australia, the Olympics end when the curtain is drawn on competition in the pool; or so the overwhelming bulk of the country say. It's a tale as old as time. A line trotted out every four years and joked about at watercoolers -- if such relics still exist -- around the country. But in the space of five magical hours on Day 12, while much of Australia slept, the nation's athletes busted that tired misnomer and delivered an unprecedented gold rush to take a stranglehold of third place on the medal tally. And a day in Paris that began embroiled in controversy, ended with Australia having secured its greatest Olympic gold medal haul.
At least Paris will be the setting used when this story is passed down the generations, but Australia's historic afternoon actually began in Marseille, approximately 770 kilometres south of the French capital.
Perth sailor Matt Wearn proved yet again to be the class of the field, steering his way to back-to-back Olympic titles in the men's dinghy class and extending the country's dominance in the discipline to 16 years. Wearn overcame race delays, postponements, and an initially abandoned final to eventually emerge from the southern French waters victorious at 4:33pm local time (Thursday, 12:33am AEST), not too long after much of Australia would have dozed off to sleep.
"It's just pure excitement," Wearn said after being presented his second Olympic gold medal, Australia's 15th at these Games. "It's something no one's done before, going back-to-back in the ILCA. That was a massive goal and I've made it happen. It's pretty special."
Not two hours later, at the temporary La Concorde skate park situated just metres from the iconic Grand Palais, that number jumped to 16. Australia's skate king Keegan Palmer obliterated the field to defend his Olympic title from three years ago in Tokyo and prove, unequivocally, he's the greatest park skater on the planet.
Just as 14-year-old compatriot Arisa Trew did 24 hours earlier, Palmer spun, slid, twisted, and flung himself around -- and above -- the bowl, compiling a slick routine that left those watching breathless. His marker of 93.11 in his first of three runs in the final proved to be a score none of his rivals could better, and at 6:12pm (Thursday, 2:12am AEST) his golden fate was confirmed.
"It's a wild, crazy feeling, dude. To be able to say I'm a two-time Olympian, let alone two-time Olympic gold medallist, it's a crazy, crazy feeling. I literally can't believe it," an ecstatic Palmer told reporters. "To be able to back up Arisa from yesterday is a dream come true. Arisa's gold was an inspiration for me. We grew up skating the same park together, Elanora in the Gold Coast. Elanora's holding it down right now!"
But before Palmer had even collected his medal on the dais, news flooded into La Concorde that 16 had just become 17. Over at the Velodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, just west of Versailles, Australia's team of youth and experience combined to take out a pulsating men's pursuit.
Olympic medallists and track cycling stalwarts Sam Welsford and Kelland O'Brien partnered up with debutants Oliver Bleddyn and Conor Leahy to beat Great Britain in a mesmerising decider with razor thin margins throughout. The Australians crossed the finish line at 6:31pm (Thursday, 2:31am AEST) to officially snap a 20-year golden drought in the race, a period that had yielded three minor medal finishes.
The team had sent an ominous warning to their rivals the night before when they posted a new world record of 3:40.730 to account for Italy and book their place in the final. That time wasn't required Wednesday as the quartet clocked 3:42.067 seconds to win Australia's first gold medal in Olympic track cycling since Anna Meares, now the team chef de mission, beat long-time rival Victoria Pendleton in the sprint at the 2012 London Games.
"A lot of people underestimated what we can do and we used that to our advantage. We all knew we had it in us," said a beaming Welsford. "I knew we were in a good spot, obviously breaking the world record yesterday, and it was actually really nice being the underdogs."
Three Australian gold medals in under three hours. It was already one of the nation's best days at the Olympic Games -- certainly outside the pool -- but it wasn't done yet. As Australians in Paris wildly celebrated the achievements of Hearn, Palmer, and the cycling team, Nina Kennedy was busy warming up for her pole vault final at the Stade de France.
Kennedy and American Katie Moon had shared gold at last year's world championships in Budapest after both jumping 4.90m, and after three-and-a-half hours of competition, that was again the height Kennedy soared over. It proved to be a mark Moon and Canada's Alysha Newman, who filled the podium, couldn't match.
When Moon's final attempt failed, at 9:47pm (Thursday, 5:47am AEST), Kennedy shrieked in delight before wrapping herself in an Australian flag and joining compatriot Matthew Denny -- himself having just won bronze in the men's discus -- for a victory lap around the stadium.
Australia began the day with 14 gold medals to its name. It ended it with 18, eclipsing the previous best mark of 17 that'd come at both the Athens and Tokyo Games. And with bronze medals to Denny, as well as Jemima Montag and Rhydian Cowley in the marathon walk relay earlier in the morning, Wednesday in Paris was officially the most successful Australian day at an Olympic Games. It might have just been Australia's best day in sports. Period.