Kaylee McKeown wins 100m backstroke gold at Paris Olympics to join Australian swimming greats
When everyone else around her is choking up, Kaylee McKeown somehow keeps it all together. That’s why she’s already one of Australia’s all-time greats — and only really getting started.
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No one handles the suffocating pressure of the Olympic Games better than Kaylee McKeown.
She may not get the same attention as some of her better known teammates because she prefers to keep a low profile, but McKeown really is made of the right stuff.
When everyone else around her is choking up, she just somehow keeps it all together.
That’s why she’s already one of Australia’s all-time greats and only really getting started.
Her victory over her great American rival Regan Smith in the 100m backstroke final at the Paris Olympics was undeniable roof of why she’s unbreakable.
Unbeaten in the event since 2019, McKeown was facing her greatest challenge yet after Smith broke her world record at last month’s US trials.
People who win so often can sometimes succumb to complacency and get rattled by setbacks but not McKeown. If anything it just strengthened her resolve.
Second at the halfway mark, McKeown surged ahead on the final lap and touched the wall first in 57.33 seconds, equalling her previous world record that Smith took from her.
Smith finished just 0.33 behind to take the silver with her fellow American Katherin Berkoff claiming the bronze. Australian teenager Iona Anderson placed fifth in her first Olympic final but no-one could stop McKeown when the heat was on.
“I knew it would come down to that last 25 metres,” McKeown said.
“It’s something that I’ve been practising for and something that the Americans and myself are really good at is finishing our races strong so it was just going to be whoever had it in that last five or 10 metres.”
McKeown and Smith hugged each other after the race and spoke of their mutual respect with the American saying: “Kaylee’s one of one. She is an absolutely incredible racer and she knows what to do when it matters.”
With her victory, McKeown joined Dawn Fraser and Ariarne Titmus as the only Australian female swimmers to win the same individual event at successive Olympics.
She’s also just the seventh Australian to win three individual golds at the Olympics, joining swimmers Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose, Shane Gould, Ian Thorpe and Titmus and sprinter Betty Cuthbert.
The 23-year-old now has four Olympic gold medals in total after also winning the 200m backstroke in Tokyo and being part of the medley relay team that won in Japan.
But McKeown looks set for more success in the French capital with at least four more events to come.
“The nerves were definitely there,” she said.
“But I just reminded myself it’s a pool in a different venue and I train every single day of my life.
“It’s one race at a time, I’ve ticked off three boxes so far. and there’s a few more to go hopefully.”
Just as she did in Tokyo, McKeown celebrated her win with a simple gesture, placing two fingers over her lips and blowing a kiss to the heavens, in memory of her father, who died from brain cancer in 2020 at the age of 53.
She has a permanent reminder of her beloved dad on her foot, a tattoo which says: “I will always be with you” and after the playing of the national anthem she went straight to her mother and sister and locked arms with them in a beautiful moment at the La Defense Arena.
“My mum didn’t really have words.” McKeown said.
“My sister kind of let a bit of a F-bomb slide out but I kind of expect that from my family.
“It’s amazing having them in the stands, the people who put you in this position to be able to fulfil your dreams. I couldn’t be more thankful towards them.
“I’m not an easy person to deal with when it comes into racing. I was actually on the phone to my mum. She was like, ‘you’re annoying me’ and then just hung up the phone.
“So she’s used to it and it’s definitely special to share moments like this with them.”
Originally published as Kaylee McKeown wins 100m backstroke gold at Paris Olympics to join Australian swimming greats
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