Driven by the despair of missing the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, swimming legend Kaylee McKeown isn’t ruling out a magical home-town career swansong at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
A five-time Olympic gold medallist, McKeown is recovering from an untimely bout of glandular fever that shattered not only her Games hopes but also any chance of competing at the Pan Pacific Championships in California.
McKeown was caught off guard by the diagnosis after struggling with fatigue, shortness of breath and a loss of appetite for several months while also suspecting she may have been suffering with the flu.
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“It was more crushing too because it wasn’t a choice I wanted to make (to skip Glasgow),” McKeown told AAP on Friday.
“It’s something that I had to make because of my health and I don’t want to make it any worse because the grand scheme for me is trying to make it to the (2028) LA Olympics.
“So with that in the future of where I want to be, it was an easy decision to make because I do want to get to LA and be at my best.
“So it’s been hard watching, but I’m really proud of the Aussies and especially Aussie swimmers as well, being able to really hold down fort and bring home the medals.”
The Redcliffe-born 25-year-old has been non-committal about her future in the pool, beyond saying Glasgow was likely to be her last Commonwealth Games.
But now the sport’s greatest-ever backstroker has revealed she may yet carry on and compete in Brisbane, after trying for children, in what would be an emotion-charged and fairytale exit from swimming.
“Oh, being at a home Olympics I could imagine would be like none other. Look, I would love to say I would love to stick around for Brisbane 2032,” McKeown said at the launch of Padel International at the Sydney Opera House.
“I’ll be 31 then and I’d like to hope that my life outside of the pool has blossomed — and maybe that’s a kid or two — and if that means I can have those kids and come back and maybe do a 50 backstroke, then that would be amazing.
“But it’s also a sport where we have such depth and grassroots athletes — you’re seeing young athletes doing times that I wouldn’t even have been capable of doing at their age, so I’ve got no doubt that by then I’ll be old news.”
Fellow swimmer Emma McKeon, with six gold medals, is the only Australian in history to have won more Olympic titles.
So, for now, McKeown’s immediate focus is being back in the pool ASAP to ensure she’s ready for the LA Games in two years.
“Glandular fever affects people in many different ways,” she said.
“But it’s also something that I didn’t plan to pick up. So, like any sport or any day-to-day life, you never know what’s around the corner.
“Like I could walk tomorrow and get a broken arm and not be able to swim for six weeks and stuff like that.”
