With 11 Olympic Games Medals and 20 Commonwealth Games Medals to her name, Emma McKeon is not only the greatest swimmer of all time, but the most decorated Olympian, and one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen.
Emma was born and raised in Wollongong (NSW) and has grown up alongside older brother and Olympic swimmer, David McKeon. Being raised by former Olympic athletes in her mother Susie, father Ron and Uncle Rob, Emma has had her eyes on success in the pool from a young age.
2010 saw Emma’s international breakthrough at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, Youth Olympics and World Short Course Championships, collecting one gold, and multiple silver and bronze medals across several events.
After narrowly missing out on Australian selection to the 2012 London Olympics, Emma cemented her spot in the team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Emma won four golds and two bronze medals, throwing herself into the Australian sporting spotlight as one of Australia’s best swimmers.
By the time the 2020 Tokyo Olympics arrived, Emma had cemented herself as one of the worlds best swimmers. Competing in freestyle, butterfly, and relays, Emma faced the prospect of swimming for seven Olympic medals.
Nine days later, she finished the swim meet with just that: Four golds and three bronze.
Her gold medals came in Olympic Record time in the 100m and 50m freestyle and the medley relay. She was also part of the World Record 4×100 freestyle relay team.
Emma’s bronze medals came in the 100m butterfly, 4×200 freestyle relay, and the mixed medley relay.
The Tokyo Olympics saw history be made on many levels. Emma became the most decorated Australian Olympian ever with a combined five gold, two silver, and four bronze medals – 11 medals in total.
She became the most successful Australian athlete at a single Olympics, and the only female in the world, across all sports, to win seven medals at one Olympics.
Backing up with the 2022 Commonwealth Games a year later, Emma became the most successful Commonwealth Games athlete; with 8 medals taking her overall tally to 20, and cementing her as the greatest of all time.
Now settled into life on the Gold Coast, Emma trains at Griffith University with long term coach Michael Bohl.
Emma recently completed a Bachelor of Public Health at Griffith University complimenting her passion in global health issues. Following on from her studies Emma is a UNICEF supporter.
In her spare time, Emma enjoys good coffee, days at the beach, skiing and heading back to her home town Wollongong to spend time with friends and family.
Emma has been a brand ambassador of Speedo since a young age. She is also a part of the Nike and Coca Cola global brand ambassador teams, along with luxury watch brand IWC.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Emma formed part of the all-conquering 4x100m Freestyle relay team that won gold and set a new world record.
On top of her medal, Emma also collected two silvers and one bronze making her Australia’s most successful Olympian during those games.
Emma performed exceptionally well at her home Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018, with three individual medals to accompany her three relay golds.
In 2019, Emma demonstrated her class once again with three golds, two silvers and one bronze medal at the World Championships.
In the inaugural International Swimming League (ISL), Emma represented the London Roar, finishing third overall in the race for MVP.
I just love being in the water. I was a water baby and we did everything around the water as a family. I got into competitive swimming as I love to race.
