Australian swimming stars Cam McEvoy and Kaylee McKeown have celebrated emotional Olympic gold medals historic for their own reasons.
McEvoy famously missed out on the medals in Rio eight years ago when he went into the 100m freestyle final as the favourite but the 30-year-old has stuck at it with unique life changes — and it all paid off with a perfect race in the 50m final.
McKeown then sealed back-to-back 100-200 backstroke doubles with a thrilling fightback to win the 200m final in a new Olympic record time.
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The swimmers both did something no Australian has ever done before — the country had never had anyone win the same two events at two straight Olympics, while no man had ever medalled in the 50m freestyle final either.
McEvoy, who became the first Australian man to win a gold medal this week in Paris after the country’s women dominated proceedings, took a break from swimming after Tokyo three years ago.
He returned with a revolutionary training regime: while focused on technical minutia and race pace in the pool, he uses rock climbing and calisthenics among other activities to retain fitness.
His 50m final triumph will be popular, with even Australian legend Ian Thorpe lost for words when he could do nothing but scream “YES! YES!” through the final moments of the race.
McEvoy won by 0.05 seconds from Great Britain’s silver medallist Ben Proud while French home hero Florent Manaudou claimed bronze in a tight battle.
“Just literally pure joy. Like it’s amazing to win but that entire 21.25 seconds was bliss,” McEvoy told Nine.
“The way the stroke moved in the water — I never thought I’d be able to experience that, the joy of the movement I just did let alone getting a gold medal with it. It’s unreal.”
After an “amazing” first 48 metres and a nervous last two, McEvoy said he has never celebrated as hard as he did having realising he had touched first.
He said it “well truly” justified his approach — but that would have been the case no matter what.
“Even without the medal, if I got fourth or eighth whatever. I think I can help so many people around the world and push sprinting forward. It solidifies this method, it’s unreal,” McEvoy said.
Minutes after McEvoy’s gold McKeown sealed her double when she responded to a huge challenge from early leader Regan Smith.
McKeown was nearly two tenths behind at the final turn yet sealed victory by 0.53 seconds, with her time of 2:03.73 becoming a new Olympic record.
Smith held on for silver while Canada’s Kylie Masse took bronze.
McKeown now has five golds in her Olympic career, with a women’s 4x100m medley victory at Tokyo three years ago also in her collection.
She could pocket a sixth in the 200m individual medley, boasting the fastest time this year.
Whatever happens there, back-to-back triumphs in the 100m and 200m backstroke in Tokyo and Paris have sealed her status as a legend.
“I don’t think people realise how significant what she’s just achieved is. She’s done the double-double,” Thorpe said.
– with AAP