Emma McKeon stays humble after missing out on 100m butterfly medal in final Olympics

If any athlete has the right to be self-indulgent, it is Australia’s most decorated Olympian Emma McKeon, but she remains the most humble champion, unwilling even to put herself in the same league as someone like Ian Thorpe. She did, however, allow herself one luxury as she emerged from the water after her last individual swim for Australia, in the 100m butterfly final at the Paris Olympic Games.

It was just minutes after Leon Marchand had won France’s first gold medal, sending the crowd at La Defense Arena into orbit, and the atmosphere was still electric. McKeon, who had finished seventh in the 100m butterfly, gave herself a moment to take it all in. She spotted her mother Susie, father Ron, brother David and sister Kaitlin in the crowd and gave them a wave before she stepped off the stage.

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“That’s my fifth time out there in two days… it never gets old,’’ she said. “I had that disappointment in there [of falling short of the medals] but I definitely tried to take it in. Finally spotted my family in the crowd, which was nice.’’

As she prepares to retire from the pool, McKeon still has relay duties for perform this week. But this was the last time she would be out there in the spotlight alone.

Typically, she was not satisfied with her performance, swimming slower than she had hoped. But she has had a difficult preparation for her third Olympics, hindered by a chronic shoulder injury, and she is not the swimmer she was when she won four gold medals in Tokyo three years ago.

The 30-year-old McKeon (56.93sec) had to bow to a new generation as American Tori Huske claimed the gold (55.59) from new world record-holder Gretchen Walsh (55.63) in an upset result, with China’s Zhang Yufei taking the bronze (56.21).

McKeon had won her sixth gold medal, and 12th Olympic medal 24 hours earlier, with the victorious Australian 4x100m freestyle relay team, which claimed the title for the fourth consecutive Games, on the opening night of competition in the drop-in pool at La Défense Arena.

The pool may be temporary, but McKeon’s record is permanent.

When asked to reflect on her career after winning that sixth gold medal, she confessed she would “absolutely not” have believed this was possible when she missed qualifying for her first team for London in 2012.

“I think if I look back at that young… I think I was 17 when I missed London, you couldn’t have told her that I was going to go on to do this,’’ she said. “But I think it’s just persisting. You have ups and you have downs, and you just keep going along and you keep ticking the boxes and doing everything that you can. That’s what I’ve done over the years and I can’t believe where I’m at right now.”

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Her performances this week have broken her tie with Ian Thorpe for the most gold medals, and most medals, won by an Australian. And she is not finished yet. She will certainly be a part of the Australian women’s 4x100m medley relay on the last night of competition, when she intends to officially finish her career, and may also be called on for the 4x100m mixed medley relay.

But she will not place herself above, or event on equal terms with the likes of Thorpe.

“I don’t think I’ve taken any crown off him,” she said, embarrassed even at the suggestion. “I don’t think like that. I’m proud of what I’ve done [but] people like him are why the sport is where it is at. He and Susie [O’Neill] and Jodie Henry, so many people to be grateful for, who have inspired all of us.”

When pressed, she did admit that she hopes she has done the same for the next generation.

“I hope I’ve left a mark for them, and been a good role model for them,” she said. It’s a mark that will take some beating, although you won’t ever hear that from her.