Australia has produced some of the world’s most dominant and inspirational athletes across cricket, tennis, swimming, athletics and more. From record-shattering cricketers to trailblazing Olympians, these figures have not only amassed medals and titles but also shaped national identity and inspired generations.
This list of the 10 greatest Australian athletes of all time, compiled from consensus across rankings by ESPN, Sport Australia Hall of Fame legends, Olympic records, fan polls and expert analyses as of 2026, balances historical impact, statistical dominance, cultural significance and global influence. While debates rage over order — especially between eras and sports — these names consistently top discussions.
Sir Donald Bradman, 1908 – 2001, Cricketer
1. Sir Donald Bradman (Cricket)
Widely regarded as the greatest batsman in cricket history, Bradman towers over Australian sport. His Test batting average of 99.94 remains unmatched, nearly 40 points above the next best. In an era of uncovered pitches and hostile bowling, he scored 29 centuries in 52 Tests.
Bradman’s feats during the 1930s “Bodyline” series and beyond made him a national hero. The Sport Australia Hall of Fame inducted him first in 1985, and he remains the benchmark for excellence. No other athlete has so profoundly defined a sport for a country.
2. Rod Laver (Tennis)
The only player to achieve the calendar-year Grand Slam twice (1962, 1969), Laver won 11 majors in singles and dominated during tennis’s amateur and early Open era. His versatility on all surfaces and against legends like Roy Emerson cemented his status.
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Laver’s “Grand Slam” feats inspired generations, and he is often called the greatest ever by peers. His legacy endures in the Rod Laver Arena at the Australian Open.
3. Ian Thorpe (Swimming)
“The Thorpedo” revolutionized freestyle swimming with five Olympic golds, three silvers and a bronze across Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. He set 13 individual world records and won 10 Commonwealth golds.
Thorpe’s dominance in the 200m and 400m freestyle, plus his cultural impact as a young star, made him a global icon. ESPN ranked him No. 1 among 21st-century Australian athletes.
4. Dawn Fraser (Swimming)
Fraser became the first swimmer to win the same event — 100m freestyle — at three consecutive Olympics (1956, 1960, 1964). Her four golds and eight total medals highlight her longevity and grit.
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A trailblazer for women’s sport, Fraser’s rebellious spirit and records (including breaking her own marks) earned her Legend status in the Hall of Fame.
5. Cathy Freeman (Athletics)
Freeman’s 400m gold at Sydney 2000, carrying the weight of Indigenous reconciliation after lighting the cauldron, remains one of Australia’s most emotional sporting moments. She won world titles in 1997 and 1999.
Her success transcended sport, symbolizing unity and pride for First Nations people. Freeman is celebrated as an Indigenous icon and national treasure.
6. Ash Barty (Tennis)
Barty retired at No. 1 in 2022 after three Grand Slam singles titles (French Open 2019, Wimbledon 2021, Australian Open 2022). She also excelled in doubles and won the WTA Finals.
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Her all-court game, humility and Indigenous heritage made her a modern hero. ESPN placed her second among 21st-century Aussies.
7. Margaret Court (Tennis)
Court holds the all-time record with 24 Grand Slam singles titles, plus dominance in doubles and mixed. Her career spanned amateur and Open eras.
Though controversial later in life, her on-court achievements remain unmatched in quantity.
8. Emma McKeon (Swimming)
Australia’s most decorated Olympian with 14 medals (six gold) across Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. Her seven-medal haul in Tokyo (four gold) tied the single-Games record for women.
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McKeon’s versatility and records in freestyle events mark her as a modern great.
9. Shane Warne (Cricket)
The greatest leg-spinner ever, Warne took 708 Test wickets and revived the art of leg-spin. His “Ball of the Century” to Mike Gatting in 1993 is legendary.
Warne’s charisma and Ashes dominance made him a household name until his 2022 passing.
10. Lauren Jackson (Basketball)
A four-time Olympian with three silvers and a bronze, Jackson dominated the WNBA (two championships, three MVPs) and WNBL (six titles). She is Australia’s most successful basketball export.
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Her scoring prowess and leadership earned her Hall of Fame induction.
Honorable Mentions
Betty Cuthbert: Four Olympic golds in athletics.
Ellyse Perry: Dual international in cricket and soccer.
Sam Kerr: Modern football superstar.
Heather McKay: Squash dominance with 16 British Opens.
Australia’s sporting success stems from a culture valuing grit, innovation and fair play. These athletes embody that spirit, from Bradman’s statistical perfection to Freeman’s unifying moment.
Debates will continue — cricket’s team sport vs. individual Olympic glory — but these 10 represent the pinnacle of Australian excellence. Their stories inspire young Aussies chasing dreams on fields, pools and courts worldwide.
The Trump administration’s budget office told FOX Business Wednesday that it is canceling $1.5 billion in blue-state grants, citing concerns about how funds are being managed in California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said it will target projects at the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cutting $943 million and $602 million, respectively.
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An OMB spokesperson told the New York Post that the states were being targeted due to “waste and mismanagement” of taxpayer funds.
The announcement follows OMB launching a sweeping review of federal funding for several Democratic-led states in January, which required states to submit detailed receipts proving no funds were being mishandled, CBS News reported.
The Office of Management and Budget is planning to cancel over $1 billion in grants from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Stephen Goin / Fox News)
The initiative reflects a shift in fiscal policy toward “America First” priorities by withholding funds from states that maintain sanctuary policies or projects the administration deems wasteful.
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Concerns cited include tax support for illegal immigrants, green initiatives and alleged fraud in certain states, such as the $250 million COVID-era scam in Minnesota uncovered in the “Feeding Our Future” case.
Several DOT and CDC programs in blue states could be affected by the funding cuts, including equity-focused infrastructure projects and public health initiatives the OMB previously criticized as “social engineering” rather than legitimate public health efforts.
“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” the OMB previously said in 2025.
The Trump administration’s budget office is canceling $1.5 billion in funding for DOT and CDC projects in four blue states over funding misuse concerns. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In January, Trump halted more than $10 billion in federal childcare and social services funding to four states, as well as New York, over concerns that some benefits had been fraudulently funneled to noncitizens, the Post reported.
In California, San Francisco was slated to receive $15 million to expand its electric vehicle charging network, with a focus on “disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution,” city officials said in 2025.
Similarly, the California Reducing Disparities Project, an equity-focused public health program serving marginalized communities, including racial minorities and LGBTQ+ populations, was awarded $60 million over six years.
Chicago has drawn scrutiny for its initiatives focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
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The Biden-era Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Programs, which together total approximately $2.1 billion, were paused in 2025 pending a review of “race-based contracting” practices.
CDC research may be subject to potential cuts. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Additionally, funding for CDC research on sexually transmitted diseases affecting “adolescents and young adults, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men” may be subject to potential cuts. The project, which listed Chicago as a recipient, was in line to receive $7 million, The Post reported.
In October 2025, the Trump administration labeled federal funding for various climate and renewable energy initiatives as a “Green New Scam” and subsequently terminated or paused $7 billion in grants, with Colorado among the primarily affected states, according to local media CPR News.
The Trump administration may expand grant cancellations in the future amid concerns about systemic failures in sanctuary city leadership, which surfaced prominently following Minnesota’s fraud schemes.
The governors of California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Shares of Information Technology companies tumbled on Wednesday, as the ripple effects of a heavy overnight sell-off in their US counterparts, sparked by the launch of Anthropic’s legal AI tool, reverberated across traditional software services stocks.
The Nifty IT index fell 5.9% on Wednesday, in its worst performance since the peak of the Covid selloff in March 2020, leading to a market cap erosion of ₹1.9 lakh crore in the Indian IT pack.
ET Bureau
“The sell-off has been triggered by market concerns that Anthropic’s new automation tools could replace currently outsourced IT services, leading to margin pressure for Indian IT companies,” said Vinod Nair, head of Research, Geojit Investments.
The San Francisco-based AI company’s new tool — Claude Cowork, an open-source plugin, is designed to automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing and data analysis.
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Nair said automation tools from companies like Anthropic are viewed as a challenge to traditional IT service models. After the launch announcement, US-based stocks Accenture, Microsoft, Cognizant and Salesforce fell 310% while American Depository Receipts (ADRs) of Infosys and Wipro fell 5.6% and 4.8%, respectively, in the US on Tuesday. At home, Infosys fell the most, down 7.4%, followed by TCS, which declined 7%. The rest of all stocks on the Nifty IT index were down 3.8-6%. The benchmark Nifty ended 0.2% higher at 25,776.
Sagar Shetty, research analyst at StoxBox said Wednesday’s sell-off was largely a knee-jerk reaction.
“At this stage, unless we see a clear and material impact on revenues, we don’t see any immediate reason to worry about large-scale disruption to the industry,” he said.
Nifty IT index advanced 1.4% in Tuesday’s trading after the finalisation of the India-US trade deal. Though Indian IT companies were not directly impacted by the tariffs, caution over business demand in the US had weighed on sentiment.
SHORT-TERM WORRIES, LONG-TERM STABILITY Nair said Indian IT stocks are experiencing sentiment-driven volatility amid concerns about AI disruption, though underlying fundamentals remain stable.
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“At this stage, long-term investors may selectively accumulate high-quality IT names with strong client stickiness and solid balance sheets. It is important, however, to monitor deal win trends over the next few quarters to assess any impact from AI adoption,” he said. Shetty also said while near-term volatility may persist, deal momentum remains healthy, and the longer-term outlook for software services remains constructive.
“We remain positive on the adaptation capabilities of Indian IT players, as the revenue model shifts from headcount-led, timeand-material billing to an AI-driven, outcome-based model,” he said.
Shetty remains bullish on Infosys, HCL Tech, Coforge and Persistent, and sees dips as good buying opportunities.
Arm Holdings plc (ARM) Q3 2026 Earnings Call February 4, 2026 5:00 PM EST
Company Participants
Jeffrey Kvaal – VP & Head of Investor Relations Rene Haas – CEO & Director Jason Child – Executive VP & CFO
Conference Call Participants
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Joseph Quatrochi – Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division Simon Leopold – Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division Vivek Arya – BofA Securities, Research Division Mehdi Hosseini – Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP, Research Division Vijay Rakesh – Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Research Division Sreekrishnan Sankarnarayanan – TD Cowen, Research Division Harlan Sur – JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division Yu Shi – Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division Srinivas Pajjuri – RBC Capital Markets, Research Division Andrew Gardiner – Citigroup Inc., Research Division John DiFucci – Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Research Division Timm Schulze-Melander – Rothschild & Co Redburn, Research Division
Presentation
Operator
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Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Arm Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Webcast and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded.
I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Jeff Kvaal, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Jeffrey Kvaal VP & Head of Investor Relations
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Thank you very much, and welcome to our third quarter fiscal ’26 earnings call. On the call are Rene Haas, Arm’s Chief Executive Officer; and Jason Child, Arm’s Chief Financial Officer.
During the call, Arm will discuss forecasts, targets and other forward-looking information about the company and its financial results. All of these statements represent our best current judgment about future results. Our business is subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. In addition to any risks that we highlight during this call, important risk factors that may affect our future results and performance are described in our registration statement on Form 20-F
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed to change the ‘fit and proper person’ criteria for market intermediaries including stockbrokers, in a move to reduce compliance burden for entities facing legal proceedings.
The regulator has suggested to remove automatic disqualification of individuals holding key positions on filing of an FIR (first information report) or a charge sheet in economic offence cases.
“It has been represented that mere pendency of criminal complaint or FIR or filing of charge sheet should not trigger disqualification, as filing of such criminal complaint or FIR or charge sheet are the preliminary steps to set the criminal law into motion. The same is also stated to be against the settled principle of criminal law that all persons are innocent until proven guilty,” Sebi said in a discussion paper on Wednesday.
The move comes after the regulator submitted before the Bombay High Court that it would review its rules on ‘fit on proper person’ after brokers involved in the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) case, including Anand Rathi Commodities and Motilal Oswal, challenged a Sebi order declaring them ‘not fit and proper’ to operate.
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These brokers argued that disqualification merely on allegations was a violation of their constitutional rights.
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As per current rules, intermediaries, key managerial personnel and persons in control incur a disqualification if there is a pending criminal complaint or FIR filed by Sebi or a pending charge sheet concerning economic offences by an enforcement agency. The regulator has now proposed that a rule-based formula may be onerous and not appropriate as it could lead to unintended consequences such as putting a person at a disadvantageous position at a preliminary stage of pending criminal complaint or charge sheet, which could later result in acquittal or discharge.This may also be counterproductive to the objective of promoting ease of doing business, it said.
Any serious or incriminating factor may be taken into account on a case-to-case basis in the context of the person’s overall conduct and the potential risk to the interests of the investors, Sebi said.
The regulator said it would come out with guidelines regarding cases where pendency of criminal proceedings is egregious enough to incur disqualification.
