Petria Thomas couldn't manage gold but she still climbed the medal dais in Athens as Australia's most successful female Olympian at one Games since Shane Gould in 1972.

In her third and final Olympics, Thomas took silver in the 200m butterfly - as she did at her first Games as a 20-year-old in Atlanta eight years ago.

She led for three-quarters of the race but Polish world recordholder Otylia Jedrzejczak overtook her in the final lap to win gold in 2 minutes 06.05 seconds - 0.31s in front of the Australian.

Thomas clocked 2:06.36 to add silver to the two gold medals she already in the bag from her Athens campaign.

Her best time of 2:06.01 - set during a semi-final at the Australian Olympic trials in Sydney four months ago - would have won the gold.

Gould won three golds, a silver and bronze in individual events at the 1972 Munich Games.

Thomas's silver gives her the seventh Olympic medal of her career.

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