Wollongong's golden girl Emma McKeon, Australia's most successful Olympian, has called it: the 2024 Paris Olympics will be her last.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"I think swimming will always be a part of my life, and it has been for my whole life so far, but this will definitely be my last Olympics, so I'm excited for that," McKeon told Olympics.com.
Australia's most decorated Olympian gets the chance to pencil her name into her third Olympic team at the national trials in June.
"My motivation definitely goes up and down," she said in the video.
"But I've learnt over the years you can't really rely on motivation to get you up every morning.
"It's more about discipline and that's something I've grown more and more over the years in swimming.
"It's just having my goals in mind and just being disciplined in knowing what I have to do to achieve those goals.
Wind the clock back on Emma McKeon's career
"But I think post-Tokyo (in 2021), the thing that kept me going was that I felt like I had more to give and I felt like I could go faster and do better. So that's kind of what brought me back to the pool."
Named the 2024 Young Australian of the Year in January, McKeon has not announced her competitive retirement and will focus on making the team for Paris.
With a stash of five gold, two silver and four bronze medals from Olympics in Rio and Tokyo, McKeon will give herself the chance to overtake the legendary Ian Thorpe if she bags more gold in Paris.
The 29-year-old has made record-breaking a habit: she's an eight-time world record holder; in Japan, she became the first female swimmer to claim seven medals at a single Games; while achieving similar success at the Commonwealth Games when she won eight medals at the 2022 Games in Birmingham.
Only last week McKeon finished third in the 50m and 100m freestyle events at the Australian championships in Brisbane.
The Australian swimming trails will be held in Brisbane from June 10-15.
