It’s hard to believe that by the time 23-year-old Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown reached Paris 2024 she already had one Olympics swim meet and three gold medals under her belt.
She’s now added another gold in the 100m breaststroke to her arsenal of medals, but for McKeown there have been plenty of tears shed amid the triumph.
McKeown lost her beloved dad Sholto to brain cancer in 2020 – and now, she says, she swims to make him proud.
So who exactly is this incredible athlete, and what makes her tick? Here’s all you need to know about this Aussie swimming legend in the making.
Where did Kaylee McKeown grow up?
McKeown, 23, was born in Redcliffe, Queensland, on July 12, 2001.
Her swimming career started at just 15 when she joined her older sister Taylor on the Australian Dolphins swim team.
That same year, she won gold in the 200m backstroke at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Hawaii – and a star was born.
Who are Kaylee McKeown’s parents?
Kaylee is the daughter of Sharon and Sholto McKeown.
Heartbreakingly, her beloved dad died in August 2020 after a two-year battle with brain cancer.
The swimmer has a tattoo on her left foot which reads: “I’ll always be with you.”
After winning the 100m backstroke at the Paris Olympics, McKeown said her “dad was with her” during the race.
“I like to think I have a superpower and that’s my dad,” she told reporters after her win.
“I believe he was with me tonight. I’m just over the moon. He would be extremely proud. It’s great to have my family here because I know that he’s here in spirit.”
McKeown once said her father’s death was the hardest thing she had ever had to deal with.
“The man who once taught me how to walk, talk and live is no longer a phone call away,” she wrote on social media. “Instead, he is now a precious and timeless memory tied closely to my heart.”
She added that her father had been her “biggest cheerleader”.
“I’ll never forget how selfless my dad was, he was the greatest dad I could’ve asked for,” she said.
“My biggest cheerleader, my best friend. He gave me so much in life, the best childhood a kid could ask for. I’d do anything just to be able to speak to him again.”
Who is Kaylee McKeown dating?
McKeown has been in a relationship with fellow Australian national team member Brendon Smith since November 2021.
Smith is also representing Australia at the Paris Olympics, so both know exactly what the other is going through.
He made his Olympic debut alongside McKeown at the Tokyo Olympics, where he won a bronze medal as part of the 400m medley.
The pair train under Michael Bohl at Griffith University in Queensland.
Although they’re pretty private about their relationship, fans do get glimpses of their life together as they feature occasionally on each other’s Instagram.
Does Kaylee McKeown have siblings?
Yes! She has an older sister, Taylor, who is 29 and a former competitive swimmer.
She won a gold medal in the 200m breaststroke at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland and a silver medal in the 4x100m medley relay at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
Taylor required surgery after injuring her knee ahead of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 and retired from competitive swimming after the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
How many Olympic gold medals has Kaylee McKeown won?
In total, McKeown has won four gold medals.
At Tokyo, McKeown won gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke, setting a new world record in the 100m with a time of 57.47 seconds and becoming the first Australian woman to win a backstroke event at the Olympics.
In Paris, and at just 23, McKeown has achieved a rare feat, winning gold again in the 100m backstroke and setting a new Olympic record with a time of 57.33 seconds.
She is now in elite company – the only other Australian women swimmers to have won the same individual event at back-to-back Olympics are Dawn Fraser and Ariarne Titmus!
