News
21 September, 2024
McKeown makes another splash
Caboolture star earns Olympic swimmer of year award
CABOOLTURE superstar Kaylee McKeown has taken home another medal, this time on home soil, after winning the Olympic Swimmer of the Year award at the Swimming Australia Awards 2024 in Brisbane. It followed an historic Olympic campaign for McKeown who became the first Australian to win four individual Olympic gold medals aft er triumphing in the women’s 200m backstroke.
The wins swept her past swimming greats Ian Thorpe, Dawn Fraser and teammate Emma McKeon.
McKeown is also the first swimmer to successfully defend the 100m and 200m backstroke titles in Olympic history and finished her Paris campaign with five medals in total – two gold (100m and 200m backstroke), one silver (4x100m women’s medley relay) and two bronze (4x100m mixed medley relay, 200 IM).
The 23-year-old put the world on notice in October when she broke the women’s 50m backstroke world record in Budapest with a time of 26.86 seconds. This record meant McKeown was the first person ever to hold the world record in the 50m, 100m, and 200m backstroke long-course events.
The awards night (Saturday, September 14) followed the Queensland Government’s Welcome Home to Olympians and Paralympians event and parade, which took place earlier in the day at South Bank, attracting thousands of Queenslanders to celebrate their athletes.
Premier Steven Miles said the athletes filled Queenslanders with “pride and excitement” , with the event putting Brisbane “one step further” to the 2032 Games.
“At the close of the Olympics, we can reflect on the participation, sportsmanship and success of the Australian team and call-out the Queenslanders who so proudly represented their nation in green and gold,” he said. Swimming Australia CEO Rob Woodhouse congratulated Kaylee and the other athletes, saying Swimming Australia is “incredibly proud” of their achievements.
“They have withstood the pressures of international sport at its fiercest, but it is not only how they finished on the podium but how they competed,” he said, “I am not sure perfection is attainable, but if we chase perfection we catch excellence and these three are among the very best.
“For the Olympic team - it was the closest we have come to matching the Americans in 68 years. “For our Paralympic team, every single male athlete won a medal and we finished a terrific seventh in what is shaping as a formidable team ahead of LA.”
Paralympic Moreton Bay swimmers Lucky Patterson, Brendan Hall and Ricky Betar also won medals in this year’s game, winning silver and two bronzes respectivley.
Moreton had four other Olympic athletes in a range of sports, who unfortunately didn’t win any medals, including Calab Law, Ella Connolly, Teagan Mitchell, and Liam Adcock. Somerset also had Dane Sampson.