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Past Heroes:
Australia is one of only three nations to have participated in all 25 of the Modern Olympics. The original medals were silver and only awarded to the winner. Gold, silver and bronze for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively began in 1908. Year 7 children at Rochedale State School, have been learning how to write biographies. Here's some biographies thanks to Year 7S and Mr Sanderson, about Past Australian Olympians. Please click on the name for their information. 
OUR FIRST OLYMPIAN:
Edwin FLACK (1874-1935)
 COMPETED: Athens 1896
GOLD MEDAL: Men’s 800m track, Men’s 1 500m track
He won the first gold medal for Australia in the very first Olympic games held in Athens in 1896. His first gold medal was for the Men’s 800m track. A second gold medal came for the 1 500m race. In 1896, there was no Olympic village for the athletes. He had to hire a small furnished flat for a fortnight while the games were on. He lived on a total expenditure of four pounds – or $8! Even though he was an Australian athlete, he ran under the banner of Great Britain. He was always the centre of attention. His strong graceful running style; his two gold medal and magnificent marathon run made him one of the personalities of the Athens games. In the slow time of 4min 33.2secs Flack won the 1 500m final with an extremely close finish. In a time of 2min 11secs he also won the 800m final with the second place-getter trailing by 8 seconds.

Flack was a young accountant in Melbourne and a well-known athlete. His father encouraged him to go to England to get more experience as an accountant, where he joined the London Athletic club. When he heard the news about the inaugural Olympic celebrations he decided to enter. This is how he got into the Olympic games and became a famous athlete. While in the marathon Flack collapsed in a heap, even though he was a fine athlete. He was carried to an ambulance carriage. He failed to win the marathon. Some nearby people thought he was unconscious, but others thought he had died.

Returning home to Melbourne in 1898, Flack never competed for Australia again. Instead he attended to his accountancy business. In 1935 he died and his grave is marked only by a small wooden cross bearing the name E.H. Flack, 1874-1935.

By Tamieka J, Year 7S

Sir Frank Beaurepaire (1891-1956)

Anthony William WINTER (1894-1955)

Sarah (Fanny) DURACK (1892-1956) Andrew (Boy) CHARLTON
Shirley STRICKLAND Marjorie JACKSON
Ralph DOUBELL(1945-   ) Betty CUTHBERT (1938 - )
Lorraine CRAPP (1938 -   ) Dawn FRASER (1937- )
Norma FLEMING (nee Croker) Raelene BOYLE

Peter NORMAN (1942 - )

Rick MITCHELL  (1955-   )

Murray ROSE Ilsa and Jon KONRADS
John Michael LANDY(1930- ) Ron CLARKE
Robert George WINDLE (1944-   )

Lisa ONDIEKI (1960 -   )

James William ROYCROFT (1915-    )

Michelle FORD (1962 -     )
Shane GOULD

John Bruce CUNEO (1928-  )

John DEVITT (1937- )

John Bernard MARSHALL (1930 – 1957)

Michael WENDEN (1949-  ) 

Herb ELLIOTT (1938- )

Here's some really Ancient Olympians:
Heracles (Click for more info)
 The most famous mythical Ancient Olympian was Heracles. He is believed to be the founder of the games. Legend tells us that Heracles was given 12 tasks as a punishment. One of the tasks was to clean out the stable if King Augeas. The stables were enormous and extremely dirty and the King promised Heracles a reward if he finished the task. To get the stable clean, Heracles changed the course of the River Alpheios so it flowed through the stables and cleaned them out. However, the King tried to cheat Heracles out of his reward so Heracles killed him and founded the Olympic Games to celebrate his victory and to honour his father Zeus. This is one version of how the Games started.		 Theagenes of Thasos
Theagenes was an Olympic champion who was said to have won more than 1 000 Olympic victories. He is even thought to be a descendant of Heracles. After he died, a statue was made to honour Theagenes. A bitter ex opponent of Theagenes used to come and beat the statue every day as if it were alive and one day the statue fell over and killed the man. Under Greek law then, even things that weren't alive could be found guilty of crimes and Theagnes statue was tried and found guilty and sunk at sea. For the next year, all the local crops failed so the farmers asked an Oracle, who was thought to speak for the god Apollo for advice. She advised that the statue be brought back from the sea and once again the crops grew well and all was right with the land.
Kallipateira
Kallipateira was the  mother of a famous boxer and she badly wanted to watch her son box in the Olympic Games but women weren't allowed to watch so she dressed as a male trainer. When her son won, she became so excited she jumped into the arena to congratulate him but her robe became undone and she was found to be a woman. Because her husband was also an Olympic champion her life was spared but from then on, all trainers had to be naked just like the contestants.		 Coreobus of Elis
Coreobus won the first event of the Ancient Olympics. It is believed to have been a sprint of  192.23 metres around the stadium (a stadion) and was the only event they held.

These stories are legends and we do not know for sure if they are true or not, but they are part of the rich history of the Olympic Games.
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