Paris Olympics 2024: Queensland’s open-water swim star Chelsea Gubecka is Australia’s first athlete selected

Australia is expected to take up to 480 athletes to next year’s Paris Olympics – and the first one has her ticket. Meet Queensland’s open-water swim star Chelsea Gubecka.

Marathon swimmer Chelsea Gubecka is determined to overcome a French water-pollution scare and strike gold after becoming the first Australian athlete selected this year for the Paris Olympics.

The Brisbane-based Gubecka made history on Thursday when the open-water swimmer was unveiled by Olympic team chef de mission Anna Meares as the first of an expected 480 Australian athletes for the 2024 Games.

The 25-year-old Queenslander clinched her ticket to France by winning silver at the world championships in Fukuoka in July and Gubecka is hungry to go one better in the gruelling 10km event in Paris.

Firstly, French authorities are under pressure to deliver a clean course after a test event was cancelled in August.

World Aquatics said the Seine River’s water quality was “below acceptable standards”.

Swimming in the Seine River has been banned since 1923 but Gubecka has no fears about taking the plunge as the pocket rocket looks to reprise her gold-medal win at the World Cup last year.

Marathon swimmer Chelsea Gubecka is presented with a ticket to Paris 2024 by Chef de Mission Anna Meares. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

“This is all just a stepping stone (to winning gold in Paris),” said Gubecka, who hails from the Sunshine Coast town of Nambour.

“I won my first World Cup late last year so that was my first major international win.

“Silver this year (at the world championships) is something to be super proud of and the goal was to get that Olympic quota spot.

“I have done that and I have full confidence to get the work done and do something special at Paris.”

Asked about the Seine River’s polluted water, Gubecka said: “It raised an issue earlier this year. “We went over and unfortunately could not swim.

“However, a few weeks later they ended up getting the water quality back to normal and then they contested the triathlon test event.

“No, I don’t have too much concern. I know the mayor and the town is trying its hardest to have the best experience possible next year.”

A six-time national champion, Gubecka made her Olympics debut as a 17-year-old in 2016 at Rio and is honoured to be Australia‘s first athlete for the Paris Games.

“It’s a bit surreal,” she said. “This sort of work doesn’t come easy.

“I have been on the (Australian) team for the past 10 years so this is testament to the group that I have and the team that support me day in, day out.

“To see the Eiffel Tower in the background, it will make for some great viewership and hopefully promote our sport a bit more.

“Open-water swimming at the Olympics is very new.”

Gubecka was just 17 when she made her Olympics debut at Rio in 2016.

Swimming Australia head coach Rohan Taylor lauded Gubecka‘s longevity in the sport.

“Chelsea has shown incredible resilience,” he said. “It’s a credit to Chelsea, her coach Kate Sparkes and the high-performance team that she is being recognised today.

“Chelsea would be too humble to say this but the toughness and resilience that Anna Meares was admired for, Chelsea also has in spades.

“In Tokyo, Kareena Lee won a historic bronze medal – our first Olympic medal in open-water swimming – and I know it’s not going to be our last.”

Gubecka will be 33 when the Olympics arrives in Brisbane in 2032 and she hopes to swim on long enough to represent Australia at a home Games.

“It (the Brisbane Games) certainly gives me an itch to potentially stick around and be a part of it,” she said.

“We love sport in Australia so I want to be in that space.”

Originally published as Paris Olympics 2024: Queensland’s open-water swim star Chelsea Gubecka is Australia’s first athlete selected