Australia’s Most Decorated Olympian Emma McKeon Hangs Up Her Goggles
Australia’s most decorated Olympian Emma McKeon has today officially announced her retirement from all levels of swimming – hanging up her goggles after the most celebrated career of any Australian swimmer.
McKeon boasts an unsurpassed haul of 14 Olympic medals (six gold, three silver and five bronze) and the title of Australia’s most decorated Olympian, across all sports – winning 75 medals in major international competitions – 34 of those medals were gold; 21 silver and 20 bronze.
At the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, she became the most successful competitor in Commonwealth Games history, taking her overall total to 20 medals, 14 of them gold – her eight eight medals in Birmingham also equalled the records for the most medals and most gold medals by a competitor at a single Games.
A WAVE GOOD BYE: Emma McKeon qualifies for her third OLY team for Paris Photo Wade Brennan (Wade’sPhotos)
The shy little girl who grew up in the NSW regional beachside city of Wollongong, surrounded by a family of Olympians and Commonwealth Games champions – destined for greatness but with a super-power for perfection and a humbleness that became her trademark.
A kid who became a triple Olympian – an eight-time world record holder – three current and five former in Australia’s dominant relay team – undoubtedly the Australian Swim Team’s MVP.
Swimming Australia confirming today that Emma’s last laps had been swum with her butterfly leg in Australia’s silver medal-winning 4x100m medley relay in Paris.
Acknowledging McKeon’s incredible years of service to the Dolphins and her contribution to Australia’s rich sporting history – in and out of the pool, acknowledged in the 2024 Australia Day Honours where she was announced as Young Australian of the Year.
And her standing amongst her peers was reflected in her election as one of eight athletes appointed to Swimming Australia’s Athletes’ Commission – to be announced imminently.
The 30-year-old is a member of Australian swimming royalty – her father and first coach, Ron swam at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics and won four Commonwealth Games gold medals.
SWIMMING ROYALTY: Ron McKeon, Emma McKeon, Dawn Fraser and David McKeon. Photo Courtesy: Wade Brennan (SCTA).
Emma McKeon leaves an indelible legacy on the sport of swimming, but remains as humble today as when she took her first strokes.
“If I look back at that young person – I think I was 17 when I missed London – you couldn’t have told her that I was going to go on to do this,” said Emma.
“It’s just persisting, you have ups, and you have downs. You just keep going along and you keep ticking the boxes. I can’t believe where I’m at right now and how I got here.
“Leading into Paris was definitely the hardest preparation I have had. I lost a lot of confidence in my swimming and felt a lot of pressure to back-up what I had done in Tokyo. But I’m proud of how I handled it and proud I could still step up for my team while feeling the self-doubt.
“Great things take time, and the long road there is where all the necessary things are learnt to take us to the next level. I will definitely miss it … It’s brought me a lot of great relationships and shaped me into the person I am.
“But I’m definitely ready for the next part of my life, which I’m excited for. I don’t think I’ve had the time to reflect on everything yet.
“I want young kids to know that I was once in the same position they are – dreaming of one day doing something big. And I want to have an impact on people’s lives by encouraging them to push hard and go after their dreams and what they are passionate about. Don’t be afraid to take on hard things and set aspirational goals, that may at time be scary. This is how we push ourselves to achieve our dreams.”
SUPERBOHL: Coach Michael Bohl and Emma before Tokyo. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)
Longtime coach at the Gold Ciast-based Griffith University HP program, Michael Bohl described McKeon as the ultimate quiet achiever.
“She hated any fuss, didn’t want any notoriety but she took great pride in representing her country and supporting her teammates,” said Bohl.
“Winning that 100m free in Tokyo was a standout for me … her first gold medal in Rio, how do I pick one outstanding moment?
“What Emma has done is unsurpassed, she set the standard for the world for so long and along the way never turned anyone away from an autograph or thought she was bigger than the team.
“And while I coached her for 9-10 years, I must acknowledge the superb work her father Ron did in crafting her technique early in her career … he didn’t work her too hard or too long and this meant she could keep swimming until she was 30 years of age.
“What she has achieved is our sport is unsurpassed.”
Her uncle Rob Woodhouse, and now CEO of Swimming Australia, swam at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, winning bronze in Los Angeles in 1984 meanwhile, her brother David (London 2012, Rio 2016) is a dual Olympian.
Emma’s mother Susie (nee Woodhouse) was a Commonwealth Games swimmer in Brisbane in 1982 – and her brother Rob, future husband Ron and future coach Michael Bohl were all her team mates on that Commonwealth Games team.
HAIL QUEEN EMMA: Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports
Rob Woodhouse saying quite emphatically: “Emma will be remembered in the same vein as Dawn, Shane, Susie and Murray, Kieren and Thorpey – that she was one of our greatest.
“From a personal point of view, watching her Tokyo campaign and in particular watching her win gold in the 100m freestyle was one of the greatest races I have ever watched but I have also loved watching her advocate for those coming up through the ranks.
“She will also be remembered for how she represented swimming. The standards she set in and out of the water were second to none and she has a lifelong love of the sport so she won’t be disappearing from swimming.”
Dolphins Head Coach Rohan Taylor saying: “Emma McKeon was and will continue to be a great role model for younger athletes. She always carried herself with dignity, and while we all saw her grace – the public can not truly appreciate how tough she is.”
“A fierce competitor who pushed herself through so many challenges during her career – the 100m freestyle gold in Tokyo was one of her best performances but for me what stands out is her commitment to the team.
“In Tokyo she swam the 50m free semi and then eight minutes later lined up for the 4x100m mixed medley relay.
“Emma chose to do that … saying ‘I’ve got this’; she wanted to help the relay team and they won bronze. It was a clutch performance and there was no question of her wanting to save herself for the 50m free final the next day … which of course she won.
“She always put her hand up to do the difficult things. And in Paris, to see her jump in the pool with her good mates and training partners (after the 4x100m medley) was a special moment … Emma has a high level of care towards her teammates that will be missed.”
GOLDEN GIRLS OF PARIS: Australia 400 freestyle relay – Shayna Jack, Mollie O’Callaghan, Emma McKeon, Meg Harris. Courtesy: DeepBlueMedia
McKeon finished her Olympic career with three medals in Paris: gold in the women’s 4x100m relay, silver in the women’s 4x100m medley relay and a bronze as a heat swimmer in the mixed 4x100m medley.
Whether it’s the Olympics, World Championships or Commonwealth Games – McKeon boasts more medals than any other Australian and her influence has helped shape stars like world record holder Ariarne Titmus, who nominated McKeon as the standard bearer she looked up to as a rookie.
McKeon is unsure what her long-term future holds – and is comfortable in acknowledging this – but on the immediate horizon is a trip to Bangladesh in December in her role as a UNICEF Australia Ambassador.
A determined young woman who almost gave away swimming in 2012 only to break through for a gold in the Rio Olympics and then at her second Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 claim four gold and three bronze – the single biggest medal haul by a female swimmer at an Olympic Games – and then finish her career as Australia’s greatest.
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Made her Dolphins’ debut at World Short Course in 2010, and her first taste of the Olympics came at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore during 2010, where she took home one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
Rediscovered her passion for the sport and made her senior international debut at the 2013 World Championships, where she won three silver medals all in relays.
In 2018 on the Gold Coast Emma took her Commonwealth Games medal tally from six to 12, winning gold in the 100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay (world record), 4x200m freestyle relay (Commonwealth Games record) and the 4x100m medley relay (Commonwealth Games record) – while picking up bronze in the 200m freestyle and 200m butterfly.
In her fourth successive appearance at the World Championships in 2019, Emma won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay and the 4x200m freestyle relay (world record) – silver in the 4x100m medley relay, mixed 4x100m medley relay and mixed 4x100m freestyle relay – bronze in the 100m butterfly. It became the most fruitful World Championships campaign of her career.
Post Tokyo, Emma took a mini break and came back in 2022 in Birmingham, where she became the most successful competitor in Commonwealth Games history, taking her overall total to 20 medals, 14 of them gold.
Her eight medals in Birmingham also equalled the records for the most medals and most gold medals by a competitor at a single Games.
In 2023, Emma anchored Australia in their 4x100m freestyle victory in world record time on the opening night in Fukuoka. Teaming up with Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack and Meg Harris. Emma swam a 51.90 split as the team put together an astonishing 3:27.96, shattering the record set in Tokyo. She was also part of the Australian team that won silver in the 4x100m medley relay, narrowly beaten by the United States. The result gave Emma, swimming the butterfly leg, her 20th lifetime World Championship medal, breaking Grant Hackett’s long-standing Australian record of 19.
Nominated her Paris Olympic swim, the one fully clothed in a tracksuit alongside mates Jenna Strauch, Mollie O’Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown – after winning the silver medal in the medley relay – as one of her favourite Olympic moments.
Emma retires still owning a number of Australian swimming records including the women’s 100m free (51.96, 2020 Olympics), 100m fly (55.72, 2020 Olympics) and SCM 50 free (23.04, 2022 Worlds).
And as a member of three World Record relays: women’s 4x100m free, women’s SCM 4x100m free, SCM women’s 4x50m medley.
Emma McKeon’s Olympic History
2016 Rio
GOLD – women’s 4x100m free relay
SILVER – women’s 4x200m free relay
SILVER – women’s 4x100m medley relay
BRONZE – women’s 200m free
2020 Tokyo
GOLD – women’s 50m free
GOLD – women’s 100m free
GOLD – women’s 4x100m free relay
GOLD – women’s 4x100m medley relay
BRONZE – women’s 100m fly
BRONZE – women’s 4x200m free relay
BRONZE – mixed 4x100m medley relay
2024 Paris
GOLD – women’s 4x100m free relay
SILVER – women’s 4x100m medley relay
BRONZE – mixed 4x100m medley relay
Emma McKeon’s Medal Haul
OLYMPIC GAMES
6 Gold
3 Silver
5 Bronze
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC)
4 Gold
9 Silver
4 Bronze
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (SC)
4 Gold
3 Silver
1 Bronze
COMMONWEALTH GAMES
14 Gold
1 Silver
5 Bronze
PAN PACS
4 Gold
1 Silver
2 Bronze
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: Photo Courtesy: Grace Hollars/USA Today Sports
Or, to summarize, she went to the Olympics and World LCM a total of 8 times, and won 2 individual event races–both during the pandemic Olympics.
Aren’t you a happy person?
She and Sjostrom are the only two female swimmers to win medals in 4 different individual events at the Olympics. Pretty sure she is very very well accomplished.
Wrong. Katie Ledecky– 200 Free, 400 Free, 800 Free, 1500 Free. All gold.
Quite a few more female swimmers have medals in at least 4 different individual events – Ledecky, Hosszu, Gould, Hase, Mcintosh, (Otto*, Smith*)
So are you saying we should also downplay the gold medals won by Dressel, Kalisz, Finke, Jacoby and Ledecky at the “pandemic Olympics”?
Or does this downgrading of Olympic individual gold medals only apply to
Australians for some reason?
An amazing champion.
Winning individual Olympic medals in the 50m, 100m free, 200m free, and 100m fly is a great achievement.
And her PBs in those events are super impressive. Her Tokyo winning times in the 50m and 100m free are still super impressive even by today’s standards.
Emma was amazing at 2022 Short Course Worlds. Her 49.96 SCM 100 Free relay split was other-worldly (0.42 faster than anyone else in history).
McKeon also set the fastest ever splits in 50 Free and 100 Fly at the same meet.