Thank you very much again to John Coates and Warwick Smith, ladies and gentlemen. Can I say to the returning victorious and marvellous Australian Olympic team you are returning to a very proud and a very grateful nation.
You have been the most successful Australian Olympic team ever and on behalf of an Australian people to whom you have given so much inspiration, so much hope and so much encouragement and so much unity over the past few weeks, I want to say that the level of pride that is felt by all Australians in your achievements cannot be gathered together in a few words.
So to all of you, those that have won medals, those that have won collectively, to John Coates, to all of the coaches, to all of those in organising the Australian Olympic effort, can I say that the memory of Australia's performance at Atlanta in 1996 will go down in the annals of the great collective sporting achievements in the history of our nation. And all of you, all of you are entitled to do two things, you are entitled to feel a deep sense of pride in what you have achieved and you are entitled to enjoy the next few weeks to celebrate in whatever way you want to and to lap up the adulation and the respect and the affection of a nation that is immensely proud of what you have achieved.
Thank you very much.
7 August 1996