Australia’s most decorated Olympian, Emma McKeon, announced her retirement from all forms of swimming on Monday (November 25), bringing an end to a glittering career in which she won 14 medals at three Olympics and 20 at world championships.

The 30-year-old sprinter had signalled her retirement earlier this year at the Paris Olympics after winning a gold, silver and bronze in relays to help Australia to its most successful Summer Games.

McKeon missed out on the London Olympics as a teenager but hit her stride in Rio in 2016 where she won her first gold in the 4x100m relay as well as silvers in two other relays and a bronze in the 200m freestyle. In Tokyo in 2021, she won the 100m and 50m freestyle sprint titles which, along with two relay golds and three bronze medals, gave her the biggest medal haul for a single athlete at the delayed Games.

As well as her six Olympic golds and five world titles, McKeon was also part of relay teams which set eight world records in the pool, three of which still stand.

(Reuters)