Not in a million years did Kaylee McKeown expect to create history as the first Australian to win four individual Olympic gold medals.
The 22-year-old claimed a landmark victory for Australia at the Paris pool on Friday night, when she triumphed in the women’s 200m backstroke, to her double delight.
She’s not just only the first Australian Olympian with four individual golds, but the only swimmer to successfully defend Olympic 100m and 200m backstroke titles.
“Not in a million years … I couldn’t ask for much more,” McKeown said of her medal haul.
But ask again, she will.
On Saturday night, the former Pacific Lutheran College student will hunt more gold in the 200m individual medley – she qualified for that final just one hour after her historic 200m backstroke triumph.
“I didn’t think I would make the final so I’m super-stoked to be a part of that and just have fun with it,” she said.
McKeown now has five golds in her Olympic career, with a women’s 4x100m medley victory at the Tokyo Games three years ago among her collection.
Fellow swimmer Emma McKeon holds the Australian record for most Olympic golds – six, with four coming in relays.
McKeown kept her 200m backstroke crown in stunning style, winning in an Olympic record time of two minutes 03.73 seconds, some 0.59 seconds outside her world record set last year.
Also Friday night, Ella Ramsey joined McKeown in qualifying for the 200m medley medal race.
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