Emma McKeon, who became the second first swimmer to win seven medals in one edition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, announced her retirement at the age of 30 on Sunday.
Swimmer Emma McKeon, heroine of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 and again a medalist in Paris this summer, announced on Monday that she was retiring from sport at the age of 30. “Today I am officially retiring from competition,” announced on her Instagram account the Australian who won a total of six gold, three silver and five bronze medals at the Rio Olympics in 2016, from Tokyo and Paris.
In silver in Paris
Behind closed doors at the Tokyo Games, postponed to 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic, Emma McKeon became the second woman to win seven medals (4 gold and 3 bronze) in one edition, almost 70 years after the Soviet gymnast Mariya Goroskhovskaya (2 gold, 5 silver) in Helsinki in 1952. She had again won silver in the 4X100 m medley relay in Paris this summer.
“Before Paris, I knew this would be my last Olympics, and the months that followed gave me time to reflect on my journey and what I wanted for my future in swimming,” she said Monday.
Her career initially seemed to be off to a bad start in 2012, when she failed to qualify for the London Olympics. She ultimately became her country's most decorated Olympic athlete.
