Illawarra athletes are preparing to do it the hard way at the Commonwealth Games.
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Emma McKeon's insatiable appetite for gold has resulted in her biting off as much as she can chew in Birmingham, when competition begins next week.
Already Australia's greatest Olympian, the 28-year-old has committed to four individual events, the 50m and 100m freestyle and 50m and 100m butterfly, as well as five relays, in an action-packed six days in the pool.
McKeon already has eight Commonwealth Games gold medals and needs three more to move past Susie O'Neill, Leisel Jones and Ian Thorpe as Australia's greatest ever in the British empire event.
She will then eye the Paris Olympics, in two years time, as a potential career swansong.
The usually reserved McKeon has also begun to embrace her celebrity status, featuring on the cover of fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar and agreeing to an interview with boyfriend, swimmer and pop star Cody Simpson on Games broadcaster Channel Seven, on Sunday night.
Seven are calling it 'the romance electrifying Aussie swimming', a mark of the immense rise in profile for McKeon, who captured the marquee 50 and 100m freestyle Olympics titles in Tokyo last year.
In contrast, Albion Park middle-distance runner Jessica Hull has been forced to lay low after testing positive for COVID, following a seventh place finish at the world championships.
She has gone straight into a mandatory five-day isolation period at her home in Portland, AAP reported.
Hull and her coach Pete Julian had already come to an agreement with Athletics Australia that she could skip the pre-Commonwealth Games camp in the south-eastern English town of Tonbridge.
"Unfortunately when you're super fit, you're really vulnerable to getting sick," Hull wrote on Instagram.
"COVID caught up to me and I'm (heartbroken) to have to scratch the 5km, but this one's out of my hands. It stings a lot.
"... Disappointed in the circumstance after my coaches and I have been so methodically cautious to avoid a situation like this after 2+ years of training and competing internationally within the pandemic."
Hull will still have to undergo PCR tests 72 hours before entering the athletes village and again on arrival in Birmingham.
The opening round of the 1500m is on August 5.
The current Australian record holder over 1500m and 5000m, Hull is considered an excellent medal chance in the metric mile in Birmingham, if she recovers in time.
She is the first member of the 64-strong Australian team in Eugene to test positive to COVID-19 during the 10-day championships.
As reported on the back page, Blake Govers will be hoping for gold vibes only, after missing the last Games with a broken hand and taking out Olympics silver, following dramatic penalty strokes against Belgium in the final Tokyo.
If Illawarra athletes are to be champions in Birmingham, they'll have certainly earned it.
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