2024 Olympics Betting: Australia's Best Hopes For Gold
A top-10 Olympic nation for eight successive games, Australia has enjoyed a three-decade success that many have attributed to the formation of the Australian Institute of Sport in the early 1980s.
In addition, the moderate climate and abundance of wealth and geographical space around its major cities since its federation in 1901 has also allowed Australia to flourish as a nation across many Summer Olympics disciplines.
The Olympics is now one of the most popular products covered by Australian betting sites thanks to the availability of live and on-demand broadcasts of every Olympic sport, which allows punters not only the chance to watch their selections win but enables them to study footage to make informed choices.
Amongst the 450-odd athletes that Australia has sent to Paris in 2024, we have selected what we believe are five solid and patriotic bets to follow over the next two weeks.
McKe-Owning La Defense Arena
The three-time gold medallist and three-time world record holder will be looking to defend two of her Olympic titles in Paris: the 200m backstroke and the 100m backstroke.
Whilst she broke the Olympic record twice in the 100m, she’s expected to face very stiff competition from the bronze medallist in that event - American Regan Smith - with whom McKeown has been on a remarkably even keel with across the two World Championships that they took part in since Tokyo 2020.
That’s why Olympic betting apps cannot split the two in the 100m event, but in the 200m she has had Smith’s measure, winning the 2023 World Championship by almost a full second with a time (2:03.85) that was more than one second better than her title-winning swim at the 2022 event.
That was before she swept the 2023 Swimming World Cup by breaking Emily Seebohm’s World Cup record on three separate occasions.
McKeown is a great chance in both backstroke events as well as the 200m IM, but for those wanting a safe bet, this is the one.
Tip: Kaylee McKeown to win women’s 200m backstroke - 1.5 @ Bluebet
Amazing Ariarne To Do The Double Again?
One of the youngest Order of Australia medal recipients in recent memory, 23-year-old Ariarne Titmus is also off to Paris to defend two golds, in events in which she has since claimed long course world records.
Titmus set new world records for her pet event, the 400m freestyle, at the 2023 World Championships before swimming a blistering 1:52.23 over the 200m at this year’s Olympic trials in Brisbane.
Similarly to above, the shorter of the two events is expected to be the more competitive of the two, with compatriot Mollie O'Callaghan a near co-favourite with Titmus across Australian betting apps.
But over the 400m, she’s a force to be reckoned with and has come a long way even since defeating Katie Ledecky, who is now third-favourite, three years ago.
Tip: Ariarne Titmus to win women’s 400m freestyle - 1.36 @ PlayUp
Will The Kookaburras Have The Last Laugh?
Australia’s beloved Kookaburras have collected a plethora of World League, Pro League, Champions Trophy and even World Cup titles over the last two decades, but since that iconic set piece fake that Jamie Dwyer converted into a truly ‘golden goal’ in 2004, Olympic gold has since eluded the Aussie men.
An unsuccessful penalty shootout against Belgium in Tokyo was the closest they have been ever since, and Australian bookmakers have them amongst the medal contenders once again albeit narrowly behind the defending champions and the Netherlands, who they defeated in the recent Pro League.
They went through the entirety of June in that league without losing in regular time, again losing to Belgium on penalties.
A vastly experienced Olympic squad will be driven by the heartbreak of 2021 and they have been drawn in Group B alongside Belgium, which will almost certainly be the match that determines who tops the group.
If you fancy the Kookaburras to enact, we recommend taking the Netherlands and Germany out of the equation by opting for the Group B winner market on Ladbrokes.
Tip: Kookaburras to win Group B - 2.5 @ Ladbrokes
Our Oar-Some Jess Will Out-Fox Her Competitors
The day after traversing the River Seine as one of Australia’s two flagbearers, 30-year-old Jessica Fox will begin the first two of three events, one of which she will be the defending gold medallist.
Fox suffered a heartbreaking loss in the final in which four penalty points cost her a gold medal in the K-1 kayaking, two days before she completed one of only two clean runs in the final to take out gold in the C-1 canoeing event.
She is a warm favourite with Olympic betting sites to win both the C-1 and K-1, showing tremendous form in both disciplines to win World Cup races in both earlier this year.
The Aussie star is also second favourite to win gold in the inaugural running of the kayak cross (KX-1) event, which is a physically gruelling but fascinating event in which four paddlers race in a straight knockout event across a series of heats and finals.
Fox’s kayaking form in 2024 has been hard to ignore, and whilst her odds to defend her C-1 crown are even shorter, adding the KX-1 to her repertoire this year gives us confidence she’ll take out the K-1.
Tip: Jess Fox to win women’s K-1 kayaking - 1.57 @ Bet365
And Last But Certainly Not Lowest
A pre-Olympics Diamond League event in London just one week ago was dominated by Australians, including by pole vaulter Nina Kennedy who blew her competition away by beating Canadian bridesmaid Alysha Newman by a 10 centimetre margin.
That’s why she’s the favourite with Aussie betting apps in front of reigning World Indoor champion Molly Caudery and Olympic title holder Katie Moon, both of whom fell well short of the mark set by Kennedy in London.
It was a fifth consecutive competitive win for Kennedy, who has been the unbeatable leader of the pole vaulting world and enters this Olympic competition in almost perfect form.
Assuming she can keep it all together, she’s going to be tremendously difficult to beat on the final Wednesday evening of these Olympic Games.
Tip: Nina Kennedy to win women’s pole vault - 2.1 @ Unibet
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