Swimming, Sydney Open: Olympic stars tune up for Tokyo Games

No one in Australian swimming will dare say it out loud for fear of jinxing her but Emma McKeon could be on the verge of becoming Australia’s greatest Olympian.

Super lean but hungrier than ever after training the house down during COVID, Emma McKeon has sent shockwaves through Australian swimming with a mind-blowing statement about her intentions for this year’s Tokyo Olympics.

No one in Australian swimming will dare say it out loud for fear of jinxing her but McKeon could be on the verge of becoming Australia’s greatest Olympian.

If all goes according to plan – and everything is at the moment – McKeon could enter up to eight events in Tokyo.

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On her current times, she would have a real shot at winning a medal in all of them, even if she and her coach won’t say it themselves.

“I don’t really know,” McKeon said. “The Olympics is always different because it’s once every four years and there is a lot of pressure on.

Emma McKeon produced a sizzling time in the 100m freestyle at the Sydney Open Finals. Picture: Delly Carr/SOPAC Images

“It’s more about getting to the wall first rather than times. Sometimes you see really fast times and sometimes you see not so fast times. It’s just about racing to the wall.”

Barring a few notable exceptions, most top swimmers are superstitious when it comes to talk about chasing big medal hauls so McKeon’s reluctance is nothing unusual but if eight sounds familiar – it’s because it’s the same number of medals that American Michael Phelps won at both the Athens and Beijing Olympics.

But McKeon doesn’t have to emulate the GOAT to become Australia’s greatest Olympian.

Six is her magic number.

The record for the most medals won by an Australian at a single Olympics is five – jointly held by Shane Gould, Ian Thorpe and Alicia Coutts – and the Australian record for total Olympic medals in a career is nine, which Thorpe and Leisel Jones share.

McKeon already has four medals from the 2016 Rio Olympics but the inclusion of the mixed medley relay on the program for Tokyo has opened the door for her to have a crack at moving to the top of the list.

Assuming she makes the team, McKeon, 26, will be an automatic choice to swim in four relays – all of which Australia is odds-on to win medals in.

Emma McKeon will have a busy schedule at the Tokyo Olympics. Picture: Delly Carr/SOPAC Images

She is also expected to contest the 100m butterfly, which she finished third in at the 2019 world championships, and the 200m freestyle, which she won bronze medal at the Rio Olympics. That’s already six events but McKeon isn’t finished yet.

She could also add the 50m and 100m freestyle – where she has suddenly emerged as a genuine contender for gold after storming to the top of the world rankings with an astonishing performance at the Sydney Open on Friday.

Still in training before next month’s Australian trials, McKeon blitzed her rivals, including Cate Campbell, to win the 100m sprint in 52.29 seconds, her lifetime best and a time that would have won her the individual gold at the Rio Olympics.

She should only get faster when Tokyo rolls around and while McKeon won’t be drawn on exactly how many events she plans to swim in Japan, she has long been Australia’s most reliable medal winner, scooping up four medals at Rio, and six each at both the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2018 world championships, so she knows she’ll be busy.

“I’m used to the big program,” she said,

“Every year, I’m like ‘do I really want to do all of these events but I’m training for all of them and I can’t really drop one because they’re all relay events as well.

Coach Michael Bohl says Emma McKeon is still getting better. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“So for the last how many years I’ve been on the team I’ve been preparing for that and our weekly training prepares for that.”

McKeon’s coach Michael Bohl, who masterminded Stephanie Rice’s triple gold medal-winning performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was also loathe to talk up McKeon’s chances, though he did issue an ominous warning to her rivals.

“She’s still getting better,” he said. “And I still don’t think we’ve seen her at the international meet, really put together the swim that she’s planned for.

“She’s either got sick or a couple of things have sort of gotten in the road, so hopefully that’s the thing we’re going to try and do this time, to make sure all those ducks get lined up.

“She’s always done a lot of races at competitions, but I think you’ve just got to make sure you don’t get too greedy.

“When you get the Olympic Games, you don’t try and do a Phelps, I think there’s only one of those, so you’ve just got to do what suits you as an athlete, what you feel you have the best chance in.”

PARIS THE JEWEL IN SIMPSON’S EYES

Pop star Cody Simpson has shot down speculation he could pull off the impossible and qualify for the Australian swimming team for the Tokyo Olympics after another eye-catching performance ahead of next month’s national trials.

The ex-boyfriend of Miley Cyrus continues to surprise the doubters — and even himself — with his impressive displays since returning to the sport, posting a lifetime best of 51.62 seconds in the 100 metres freestyle at the Sydney Open on Friday.

That’s not even his best event — his preferred stroke is butterfly — but the 24-year-old wants to make one thing clear: he doesn’t seriously expect to make the team for Tokyo.

“That’s always been other people’s expectations of me,” he said.

Cody Simpson continues to impress with his times in the pool. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

“It’s funny to see the way people kind of talk it up, which they are going to do naturally, but Japan was never on the cards for me. I thought it would be said and done about 12 months ago, when I started training.

“The fact that I could even go to the trials is epic but Paris (2024) has always been kind of the shining jewel for me in terms of where my ambitions and goals lie. But, I’ve been surprising myself time and time again since I started back. So you never know.”

Simpson’s new coach Michael Bohl has also played down suggestions his star recruit could make the team for Tokyo, but said he’s been impressed with how quickly he has improved since joining his squad.

“He’s come into the group and no special favours. He’s just come in and he’s one of the kids,” Bohl said. “I think he’s enjoying the anonymity. He’s really enjoying that. He’s just one of the guys in there and he’s working really hard. He’s trying to get himself better. He’s taking it very seriously.

“He’s under no illusions he’s going to do anything ever, but he’s just trying to be the best he can be and we’ll just see where that takes him. He’s got ability, he’s got talent. He’s a good competitor … but there’s no expectations at all for him.

“He’s just qualified for the national open championships so he’s certainly not front and centre in terms of making teams in the immediate term but we’ll see what happens the next three years because he’s got a lot of improvement to do.”

Simpson was a promising young swimmer who competed at representative level before he turned to music a decade ago but he decided last year to make a comeback.

His initial goal was to try to make the Australian team for the 2024 Paris Olympics, but he’s decided to have a crack at Tokyo after those Games were postponed for 12 months.

For his millions of social media followers, he has some news too: he isn’t finished as a musician yet either.

Cody Simpson admits he has been surprising himself with his times since returning to the pool. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“I don’t want to be pigeonholed,” he said. “It’s important, I guess, in life to compartmentalise and have periods where you can sort of give the effort to different things and different goals and ambitions that you may have.

“I was always going to swim through my 20s and then become a musician later in life but that plan got flipped on its head and it’s almost gone backwards now.

“I always planned on coming back to the sport. The fact that I’m already kind of up there and racing is good fun and I’m ahead of where I thought I’d be.

“As a swimmer, you only have a certain sort of age that it’s possible to be excellent at it. As a musician, you can do it well into your 80s these days so I know if I wanted to have a crack at it I had to do it now instead of spending the rest of my life wondering ‘what if’.”