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Jun 21, 2021 · 1 - Strong family sporting genes. Kaylee isn’t the only one with strong aquatic DNA in her family. Her talented older sister Taylor also represents Australia, and won 200m breaststroke gold at the 2015 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. A year later, she helped her nation to 4x100m medley relay silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
- Andrew Binner
Oct 6, 2022 · Nancy McKeon - Jo Polniaczek. In the Season 2 cast shake-up of "The Facts of Life," a new character was added to the mix — a streetwise girl on scholarship named Jo. In an interview for the ...
- Michael Palan
Nov 28, 2023 · Nancy McKeon was part of a ’70s and ’80s acting family. Her brother Philip McKeon played Tommy Hyatt on the hit “Alice.”. But Nancy McKeon held her own in the role of the brutish Jo ...
Aug 1, 2021 · The other pivotal moment arrived last December, where Bohl and McKeon agreed to drop the 200m freestyle from her program. They would instead focus on turning her into a pure sprinter across ...
- Overview
- Family
- Early swimming career
- Commonwealth Games, Olympics, and world championships
Emma McKeon (born May 24, 1994, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia) is the most successful Australian athlete in Olympic history, the winner of 11 medals. At the 2020 Games in Tokyo—which were postponed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic—she made history by becoming the first female swimmer and the first Australian to win seven medals ...
McKeon is one of three children born into a competitive swimming family. Her mother, Susie (née Woodhouse) McKeon, participated in the 1982 Commonwealth Games, and Ron McKeon, her father, swam at the Olympics in 1980 and 1984. David McKeon, her only brother, competed at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. In addition, Emma McKeon’s uncle, Rob Woodhouse, captured a bronze medal in the 400-meter men’s individual medley at the 1984 Games.
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McKeon grew up swimming in both pools and the ocean. Her first major competition was in 2010 at the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. There she won a gold medal in the 4 × 100-meter medley relay. In individual events she won a silver medal in the 100-meter freestyle and bronze medals in the 50-meter and the 200-meter freestyle events.
In 2012, at age 17, McKeon narrowly missed earning a spot on the Australian Olympic swim team. Disappointed, she quit competitive swimming. However, by the end of the year she had rededicated herself and returned to swimming. In 2013 she helped her team win silver in the 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay at the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA; later called World Aquatics) World Championships in Barcelona. She won two more silver medals as a preliminary swimmer in relays. (Prelim swimmers compete in the preliminary relay races that determine which teams qualify for the finals. Although prelim swimmers may not participate in the final race, they still win medals for helping the team reach the finals.)
In 2014 McKeon attended the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She won a gold medal in the 200-meter freestyle event, setting an Australian record with a time of 1 min 55.57 sec. She also earned bronze medals in the 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly as well as gold medals in three relay events (4 × 100-meter freestyle relay, 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay, and 4 × 100-meter medley relay). At the 2015 world championships in Kazan, Russia, McKeon helped the 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay team win gold and the 4 × 100-meter medley team win bronze.
Over the next few years McKeon continued to perform successfully in competitions. In 2016 she went to Rio de Janeiro to compete in her first Olympics. She won four medals, including a bronze medal in the 200-meter freestyle. As a team member she won a gold medal in the 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay and two silver medals in the 4 × 200-meter freestyle relay and the 4 × 100-meter medley relay.
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Olympic medals
2016 Rio Games
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Shortly after recording a time of 57.45 at Australia’s Olympic Trials in 2021 to become the world’s fastest female 100 backstroker ever, she took home the 100 and 200 backtroke Olympic gold medals at Tokyo 2020. The then teenager also won gold as part of the Australian 400 medley relay team.
She is a 2x Olympian and in 2020, became the first female swimmer to win 7 medals at a single Games. Emma McKeon is a sprint specialist and member of Australia’s National Team. Born May 24, 1994 ...
