Two Olympic titles, seven medals and 13 top-10 finishes is a hard act to follow - even if a lot of it was down to just one person.
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But Team Tasmania appears to be up for the challenge.
![Ariarne Titmus was given a key to the city of Launceston on the back of her stunning Tokyo Olympic performance. Picture by Phillip Biggs Ariarne Titmus was given a key to the city of Launceston on the back of her stunning Tokyo Olympic performance. Picture by Phillip Biggs](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/198551236/357785fe-3cb5-42eb-a34e-518afb871704.jpg/r0_89_5000_3333_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The 2020 Olympic Games may have been held a year late and without spectators, but it went down in history as this state's most successful.
Admittedly, this was largely due to the ground-breaking water-dividing achievements of Ariarne Titmus who claimed both the golds, more than half the medal tally and became both our first individual and multiple Olympic champion.
But even beyond the former Riverside and Launceston Aquatic freestyler's prolific reach were a host of impressive performances with Kookaburras Eddie Ockenden and Josh Beltz just a penalty shootout away from doubling the state's golden haul.
Launceston-born Chris Goulding added basketball bronze to hockey silver as the Boomers finally broke their Olympic medal jinx.
Beyond this, Tasmanians recorded two fifth-place finishes (cyclist Georgia Baker in women's team pursuit and rower Sarah Hawe in women's eights), two seventh places (Baker again in the madison and runner Stewart McSweyn in the 1500m) and two ninth places (canoeist Daniel Watkins and Jake Birtwhistle in mixed relay triathlon).
Apart from Watkins - who has since hung up his paddle - all the above have shifted their sights from the Japanese capital to the French as they seek more Olympic success in Paris between July 26 and August 11 next year.
Fresh from more stunning results at the world titles where she overcame the reigning champion, Olympic champion and world record holder to become the world's best 400-metre freestyler, Titmus will again lead the Tasmanian charge.
And with her familiar program of 200, 400 and 800m plus the 4x200m relay, the Queensland-based freestyle phenomenon has plenty of opportunities to add to her personal medal tally.
Ockenden and Beltz are among the front-runners to make the Kookaburras' squad with Beltz's brother Hayden and Jack Welch a chance to join them and Maddi Brooks in the frame for the Hockeyroos while Goulding remains in Boomers contention.
Baker leads Tasmania's traditionally-strong cycling contingent as Josh Duffy also targets the track endurance events with Nicole Frain, Anya Louw, Hamish McKenzie, Felicity Wilson-Haffenden and Lauren Perry making contrasting beep noises on the Paris radar.
Meanwhile Sam Fox, Cam Ivory and Izzy Flint are in similar contention for the mountain biking.
Hawe has reverted to her preferred women's four as Henry Youl targets the men's quad while McSweyn faces options from 1500m up to 10,000m and could be joined by sprinters Jacob Despard and Jack Hale who both made the 4x100m team at last year's Commonwealth Games.
Despite a disappointing season by his high standards, Birtwhistle remains among the nation's best Olympic-distance triathletes while freestyler Max Giuliani, breaststroker Matilda Smith and diver Emily Meaney are long shots to join Titmus in the pool.
Pistol shooter Bailey Groves narrowly missed the target when aiming for Tokyo and now has Paris in his sights instead.
T38 middle distance runner Deon Kenzie, F20 shot-putter Todd Hodgetts and PR3 rower Alexandra Viney were Tasmania's representatives at the Tokyo Paralympics and all remain in contention for a ticket to Paris when the Games return from August 28 to September 8.
Kenzie kept the Tasmanian airport metal detectors buzzing by bringing home some bronze from the T38 1500m in Tokyo.
All up, nearly 40 Tasmanian athletes have Paris on their horizons and while many may drop out of the picture over the next eight months, the state appears destined to maintain its enviable Olympic pedigree.
The seven medals brought home by Tasmanians from the Tokyo Olympics tops the haul of five achieved four times in 2008 (Scott Brennan gold, Hollie Grima silver, David Guest, Ockenden and Matthew Wells bronze); 2004 (Wells gold, Simon Burgess and Simone Morrow silver, Dana Faletic and Kerry Hore bronze), 2000 (Carla Boyd, Darren Balmforth and Burgess silver, Daniel Sproule and Wells bronze) and 1996 (Carla Boyd, Daniel Collins, Scott Goodman, Tim O'Shannessy and Sproule bronze).
And with Legana's Ian Chesterman graduating from Australian team Chef de Mission in Tokyo to Australian Olympic Committee president in Paris, it would only be right for him to oversee even more success for his home state.