Waterford made history in Turkmenistan's capital last month by winning a bronze medal in the women's under-49 kilograms category at the Taekwondo DanceSport Arena.

She secured third-place honours by reaching the semi-finals, where she was beaten by eventual silver medallist Kim Jihea of South Korea.

"I feel very proud to have had this opportunity to be in this place where I am the first person to do this," Waterford said.

"As an elite athlete you're always looking for the next big thing.

"I want to take a bit of time to really appreciate what it means to win this medal and that it is quite a big deal, and to celebrate in the moment."

A day after Waterford's podium finish, Australia won its second bronze medal through fellow taekwondo player Ruth Hock’s performance in the women's under-67kg division.

Hock was defeated in the penultimate round by Chinese Taipei's Chen Yann-Yeu, who went on to lose the final against China's Gao Pan.

The 32-year-old only returned to international competition in 2016 after a six-year hiatus which saw the birth of her two daughters and the opening of her own taekwondo gym in Adelaide.

"It's my first medal out of the Oceania region since I've come back to competing, so reflecting on that it's a really big step for me and I'm excited about what will come in the future," Hock said.

"I'm probably double the age of some of my competitors today, and because so many people say there is an issue with the big age gap, I am just trying to prove them wrong and I am slowly getting there."

Ashgabat 2017 marked the second time Australia has competed at an Asian Games with the nation making its debut at the winter version in Japanese city Sapporo in February.

It was the first time, however, that Oceanian countries were eligible to win medals.

Australia's only two medals were those won in taekwondo.

As well as Waterford and Hock, other taekwondo players that represented the country were William Afonczenko, Deanna Kyriazopoulos, Adam Meyers and Cameron Taylor.