Emma McKeon

Emma McKeon comes from a family with rich swimming pedigree. Both her parents and uncle representing Australia and winning medals across numerous Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

With swimming in her veins, Emma took to the pool from an early age. 2010 saw Emma’s international breakthrough at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, Youth Olympics and World Short Course Championships, collecting one gold, and multiple silver and bronze medals across several events.

After narrowly missing out on Australian selection to the 2012 London Olympics, Emma cemented her spot in the team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Emma won four golds and two bronze medals, becoming a sporting spotlight as one of Australia’s best swimmers.

Qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Emma was part of Australia’s all-conquering 4x100m Freestyle relay team that won gold and set a new world record.

Swimming in two more relays, Emma secured a further two silver medals. She claimed her first individual medal in the 200m freestyle – a bronze – and finished as Australia’s most successful Olympian at the Rio Games.

Emma performed exceptionally well at the Commonwealth Games in 2018, with three individual medals to accompany her three relay golds.

In 2019, Emma demonstrated her class once again with three golds, two silvers and one bronze medal at the World Championships.

In the inaugural International Swimming League (ISL), Emma represented the London Roar, finishing third overall in the race for MVP.

By the time the 2020 Tokyo Olympics arrived, Emma had cemented herself as one of the worlds best swimmers. Competing in freestyle, butterfly, and relays, Emma faced the prospect of swimming for seven Olympic medals.

Nine days later, she finished the swim meet with just that: Four golds and three bronze.

Her gold medals came in Olympic Record time in the 100m and 50m freestyle and the medley relay. She was also part of the World Record 4×100 freestyle relay team.

Emma’s bronze medals came in the 100m butterfly, 4×200 freestyle relay, and the mixed medley relay.

The Tokyo Olympics saw history be made on many levels. Emma became the most decorated Australian Olympian ever with a combined five gold, two silver, and four bronze medals – 11 medals in total.

She became the most successful Australian athlete at a single Olympics, and the only female in the world, across all sports, to win seven medals at one Olympics.

Backing up with the 2022 Commonwealth Games a year later, Emma became the most successful Commonwealth Games athlete; with 8 medals taking her overall tally to 20, and cementing her as the greatest of all time.

Emma recently completed a Bachelor of Public Health at Griffith University complimenting her passion in global health issues. Following on from her studies Emma is a UNICEF supporter.

In 2024 Emma was awarded the Young Australian of the Year.