If the Olympics was for women only Australia would be matching the USA. Can it ever happen again?

PARIS: If Paris 2024 was a women's only event, Australia would be breathing down American's neck at the top of the medal tally after nine days of competition.

Give yourself a chance to really chew on that statement before you digest it.

Australia, a country of 26 million people, is sticking it to the world at the Paris Games by almost any measure, but it's the women doing most of the sticking.

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"Our Aussie girls are absolutely crushing it," legendary swimmer Cate Campbell gleefully told Wide World of Sports.

Incredibly, Campbell's not that surprised. She was on the pool deck commentating for Nine throughout the swimming competition and says the stars of the Dolphins team simply delivered to their potential. No more, no less.

"I don't think we've had any surprise gold medals that have come out of nowhere. We know that every gold medal that has been won we've been a really good chance for. And they've just been able to stand up, keep their cool and calm in the moments that matter and deliver."

The likes of "Arnie", Kaylee and Mollie will live long in the memory for their performances in the pool, with the Dolphins' female contingent contributing six golds, four silvers and a bronze. Gold fever has been contagious and spread well beyond Paris La Defense Arena to Grace Brown (cycling time trial), Jess Fox (canoe slalom) and Saya Sakakibara (BMX).

There are more in the pipeline too, with the Hockeyroos and the Stingers on track to go deep into the tournament, while boxer Caitlin Parker has a medal locked up and is two wins from Australia's first ever boxing gold - male or female. And don't forget Fox - not of the double gold's variety but her sister Noemie, who is well and truly in the mix for medals in the kayak cross.

There's chances too in the athletics, with pole vaulter Nina Kennedy one of the favourites for gold in an event that finishes on Thursday morning AEST, while on Sunday morning Mackenzie Little is considered a chance to throw her way into history with a javelin gold medal.

In the unlikely scenario that all of those contenders stand atop the dais, Australia will have just witnessed a record haul of Olympic gold medals - and the winners list will be utterly dominated by women.

The Matildas were the big story of 2023 as they captured the hearts of the nation with a run to the semi-finals in a home World Cup. And regardless of what happens for the remaining seven days of competition in Paris, women will once again be our sporting heroes in 2024.

Watch every moment, every medal of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, every event streaming ad free, live and on demand with 4K on Stan Sport.

But are we witnessing a new normal or will the pendulum swing again in Los Angeles or Brisbane, with the distribution of gold medals evening out?

Only time will tell but Campbell has a theory that suggests we should savour this moment, ironically due to increased funding for sports that are popular for Australian kids.

"At the moment in Australia, we have a lot more opportunities for men to earn a living from sports that are not Olympic sports," she said.

"There's been a really strong pathway right from when men are young showing that if you want to have a career in sport, these are your best options. There's been a really clear way to get involved in sport and make a good living and therefore a lot of the best athletes have turned away from Olympic sports.

"Whereas for women, because the Olympics are so global and so visible every four years, if they wanted to imagine themselves involved in sport and having a career in it they had to turn to the Olympics and not any professional code. So we've seen more Australian women decide to pursue Olympic sports - for a long time that was the only avenue they could imagine themselves in."

That theory has been widely discussed in recent years, especially as the tide has started to turn for women pursuing professional careers.

While the "you can't be what you can't see" analogy may have funnelled Australia's best female athletes into swimming and athletics in the past, the major codes have finally had a lightbulb moment and started investing millions to build up professional women's leagues.

The NRLW, AFLW, A-Leagues, BBLW and, coming through from the back of the pack, the Super W are starting to become viable career paths that could drain talent from Olympic programs.

With a home Olympics in Brisbane now just eight years away, that's a worry for Campbell.

"It's something that is being spoken about and we want to make sure we are keeping and capturing athletes in Olympic sports, so that means we need to pay our athletes more," Campbell said.

"We need more investment from more companies, and I hope that the performances we are seeing on the world stage by these incredible athletes will prompt investment into the sport because otherwise we will lose them to other professional codes."