Australians ‘over the moon’ about record-breaking Olympic medal tally

Australians have bagged a record 18 gold medals at the Olympics, including four golds in a single day, as the sports-crazy nation takes third place in the medals tally behind China and America, sparking celebrations down under on Thursday.

Over the last 24 hours, Australians took gold in women’s pole vault, men’s skateboarding, sailing and topped it off with a thrilling win over Great Britain on track cycling’s iconic Olympic team pursuit.

That gives Australia 18 gold medals, beating the tally they reached at the 2004 Athens Olympics and in Tokyo three years ago, and put them comfortably ahead of rivals France and Great Britain who have 13 and 12 golds respectively.

The US tops the medals tally with 27 golds while China is second with 25. There are still four days to go for the Games.

VIDEO | Wrapping up first week of Olympics: