Emma McKeon wins sixth gold medal to become Australia’s greatest Olympian

Emma McKeon’s is the ultimate team player — so it was fitting that the 4x100m freestyle relay helped her to become Australia’s most decorated Olympian.

Emma McKeon celebrates with Meg Harris after Australia’s gold medal victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the Paris Olympic Games. Picture: Getty Images

Three years after she joined Ian Thorpe at the summit of Australian Olympic success, Emma McKeon has taken the final step to reach the absolute peak.

This time she is all alone, having left Thorpe behind.

They had been tied on five Olympic gold medals, but McKeon now has six — more than any Australian in any sport. In the pantheon of Australian sporting greats, McKeon’s place is assured.

Her record-breaking sixth gold came on the opening night of swimming finals at the Paris Olympics, when she teamed up with Meg Harris, Shayna Jack and Mollie O’Callaghan to win the 4x100m freestyle final.

Inevitably, someone, some day, will eclipse everything she has done, but right now, McKeon is Australia’s greatest ever Olympian, with 12 medals in total, half of them gold.

And how fitting it was that she broke free from Thorpe with another world-record breaking performance in a relay, with Thorpe commentating on the race and Dawn Fraser watching from the stands at the La Defense Arena.

Emma McKeon (left) with Shayna Jack, Molly Callaghan and Meg Harris after winning the 4x100m freestyle relay at the Paris Olympics. Picture: Michael Klein

Although she won two individual gold medals in Tokyo when she completed the 50m-100m sprint double, McKeon’s heart has always been with relays because she’s the ultimate team player.

Naturally shy, McKeon dislikes the attention that comes with being in the spotlight as a solo swimmer, but like Cate Campbell — with whom she shared so many podiums — she thrives in the team environment.

That’s partly a result of her down to earth upbringing. Born and raised in Wollongong, McKewon is swimming royalty. Her parents, Ron McKeon and Susie Woodhouse, both swam for Australia as did her brother David and her uncle Rob Woodhouse.

A natural in the water, she wasn’t pressured into being a professional and briefly quit swimming when she was in her teens, only to come back of her own accord, relocating to the Gold Coast to train under Michael Bohl.

She has never looked back, acquiring more Olympic and Commonwealth Games than anyone who has worn the green and gold cossies, through hard work and dedication.

When her training sessions end and everyone else leaves the water, she often stays back and works on fine-tuning all the little things that shave those tiny fractions of seconds off her times that decide the difference between winning and losing.

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One of McKeon’s biggest advantages is her body position in the water and her streamline. If she looks like she cuts through the water better than everyone else – it’s because she does.

Now 30, and in a steady relationship with former pop star Cody Simpson, this is her third and final Olympics, not that you would know it from the lack of fanfare, which is of her own making.

She’s not quite as fast as she once was — and did not qualify for either of the sprints she won in Tokyo — but made the final of the 100m butterfly, and also has the medley relay to come.

And her performance in the relay was mind-blowing. The greats have that knack.

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She wasn’t guaranteed a spot in the final so had to race for her place in the heats, with the fastest two joining O’Callaghan and Jack. McKeon left nothing to chance, posting a blistering split of 51.94. In the final she went a fraction slower but the result was the same: gold.

“I don’t keep track of that kind of stuff,” McKeon said when told about her latest accomplishment.

“Everyone wants to be part of this 4x100m, I feel really honoured to be part of it.

“It’s definitely been a rough couple of years, especially this year. So I definitely had my

doubts. I just really wanted to be part of this team.”

Originally published as Emma McKeon wins sixth gold medal to become Australia’s greatest Olympian