Emma McKeon

Personal life

McKeon was born on 24 May 1994 in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. She is the sister of David McKeon and the daughter of Ron McKeon, both of whom are also swimmers. She completed her secondary education in 2012 from The Illawarra Grammar School and then studied at Griffith University for a bachelor's degree in public health and health promotion with a major in nutrition. She and her brother David McKeon are both coached by their father.

Swimming

McKeon competed at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics held in Singapore. She won a gold medal in the girls' 4 × 100 metre medley relay, silver medals in the 100 metre freestyle and the mixed 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay, and bronze medals in the 50 metre freestyle, 200 metre freestyle and mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay.

She missed out on selection for the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, United Kingdom. In 2013, she won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay at the 15th FINA World Championships held in Barcelona, Spain. She also swam in the heats of the 4 × 100 metre medley relay and the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay on the way to Australia winning silver medals in those events.

She was selected as part of the Australian squad for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, held in Glasgow, Scotland, where she won six medals, four golds and two bronzes. On the first day of competition she won a gold medal in the 200 metre freestyle and was then part of an Australian quartet, alongside Bronte Campbell, Melanie Schlanger and Cate Campbell, which won the gold medal and set a new world record time of 7:49.90 in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay. She won individual bronze medals in the 100 metre butterfly and then in the 100 metre freestyle, behind the Campbell sisters as Australia took all three podium positions. McKeon won further gold medals in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, where she set a Games record as part of team that also included Alicia Coutts, Brittany Elmslie and Bronte Barratt, and the 4 × 100 metre medley relay with Emily Seebohm, Lorna Tonks and Cate Campbell. Her six medals equalled a Commonwealth Games record for swimmers previously set by Ian Thorpe and Susie O'Neill.

In 2015, she competed at the 16th FINA World Championships held in Kazan, Russia. She won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay, finished fourth in the 100 metre butterfly and placed seventh in the 200 metre freestyle.

In April 2016 McKeon was selected as part of the Australian team for the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her brother David was also selected meaning the pair will be the first brother and sister to swim at an Olympic Games for Australia since John and Ilsa Konrads in 1960.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics she led off the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay that won a gold medal in a world record time of 3:30.65. McKeon also went on to win a pair of silvers as a part of the 4 × 200 metre freestyle and 4 × 100 metre medley relays. She was one of five Australian individual medallists in swimming in Rio, having won a bronze medal in the 200 metre freestyle with a time of 1:54.92. In the 100 metre butterfly, she finished 6th.

2017 World Championships

Emma has 4 silver medals from the 2017 World Swimming Championships so far. She competed in 100 m butterfly. In the heats she was 3rd - her time was 56.81. After that in the semifinal 2, where she swam, she finished 2nd putting a record of Oceania - 56.23. In the final she even improved this time and finished 2nd behind Sarah Sjöström with a record of Oceania - 56.18. In 200 m freestyle she continued from the heats to the semifinals with 4th time - 1:56.61. Then in the semifinals she was second in her one and second overall. In the final she proved her good form and she shared the silver medal with Katie Ledecky with time of 1:55.15 remaining behind the 1-time Olympic and 2-time World champion in hat discipline - Federica Pellegrini. Her third silver medal is with the Australian relay in team with Bronte Campbell, Brittany Elmslie and Shayna Jack, as her team remained 0.29 seconds behind the team of USA at time of 3:32.01.. Her other 2nd place is with the Australian 4x100 m mixed medley in team with Mitch Larkin, Daniel Cave and Bronte Campbell.