The Nightly on Leadership: How Emma McKeon conquered inner demons to become an Australian Olympic great

Emma McKeon’s greatest challenger never stood next to her on the starting blocks.

It wasn’t someone whose fingertips touched the wall fractions of a second before, or after, her own.

The Olympic gold medallist’s biggest competitor was always herself.

Once she learnt how to harness her own perfectionism, it enabled her to become Australia’s most decorated Olympian of all time. But initially it almost derailed her career, causing her to walk away from swimming twice in her teen years.

“I struggled with the pressure I would put on myself when I was young,” McKeon says. “If things weren’t perfect then it wasn’t OK and it wasn’t good enough. I’d really doubt myself and be very critical.

Read the full edition of The Nightly On Leadership for FREE here

“That caused me to stop swimming when I was 15 just because I wasn’t coping.

“But I still had that deep desire and dream to be a great swimmer, so it kept bringing me back.”

Yet, McKeon continued to struggle under the weight of her own expectations, and a setback ahead of the London Olympics caused the then 17-year-old to throw in the towel once more.

“At the trials for the London Olympics I missed on making the Australian team by 0.1 of a second. I was so, so close,” she says.

“I was still not dealing with the pressure and I was at an age where I felt like I was missing out on being a normal teenager so I decided to give it up because I didn’t want to wait another four years until the Rio Olympics, that felt far too long.”

But walking away wasn’t easy. Especially given swimming is in McKeon’s DNA — her dad and uncle both competed at the Olympics and her dad won four Commonwealth Games gold medals, while her mother was part of Australia’s 1982 Commonwealth swim team.

McKeon grew up swimming alongside her brother David and sister Kaitlin at their parents’ swim school in Wollongong.

And while McKeon didn’t make the cut for the 2012 Olympics, she was there in London to cheer on David, who did make the squad.

“I went to London to watch my brother race and I was in the stands for the women’s relay, which was the team I missed out on being part of. I just realised, I don’t want to be watching the next Olympic Games in the stands and having that regret of not having stuck it out and worked out a way to navigate what I wasn’t dealing with.”

By the end of 2012, McKeon had faced her demons, put in the work to strengthen her mental stamina and returned to swimming. Less than four years later she won her first gold medal, along with two silvers and a bronze, at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

From that point on there was no stopping McKeon, arguably Australia’s most successful quiet achiever, whose accomplishments cannot be overstated.

Across three Olympic Games — Rio in 2016, Tokyo 2020 (which was actually held in 2021 after being postponed due to the pandemic) and Paris in 2024 — McKeon won 14 medals. Her haul of six gold, three silver and five bronze made her not only Australia’s most successful Olympian ever, but also one of the most successful Olympic swimmers, from any nation.

She won the most medals of any athlete across all sports in Tokyo with a grand total of seven, which also made her a joint Olympic record holder, with Russian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya, for the most medals won by a woman in a single Olympic Games. Gorokhovskaya’s record had held since the 1952 Helsinki Olympics in Finland.

In addition, McKeon is an eight-time world record holder (three of which are still current), won five gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships, and her Commonwealth Games tally stands at 20, with 14 gold.

Ultimately she credits her perceived failures and disappointments for helping enable the growth she required to go on to achieve victory.

“Failure is going to come,” she says. “You’ve got to allow yourself to be disappointed but then pay attention to what that failure is teaching you.

“And then get up and try again.”

Although out of the pool McKeon is known to be mild-mannered and humble, she admits that in the water things change.

Her perfectionism has an outlet; her ambition and competitive spirit surge to the fore. Her effortless way of carving through the water in long graceful strokes showcases a woman who was born to swim, born to compete and born to win.

“I would definitely say I am a different person in the water,” she says. “When I’m in the pool, I’m super focused on my goals and what I’m doing in that moment. Outside of the pool I’d say I’m more calm and relaxed.”

McKeon says her success has come through patience, perseverance and putting in the hours.

“I think the longer you do something for and the more time you put into it, the more chance you have at success, and it doesn’t just come quickly so patience is definitely a valuable trait to have,” she says.

McKeon’s accomplishments firmly place her alongside other national sporting icons whose legacies will continue to captivate generations to come.

It is likely that the new crop of swimmers who will line up poolside at the National Aquatic Centre in Brisbane for their chance to chase Olympic glory in 2032 will have first been inspired to swim by McKeon’s history-making achievements.

That this will be something of a full-circle moment is not lost on McKeon, who remembers watching Susie O’Neill compete at the Sydney Olympics and the impact it had on her as a youngster.

“I was in kindergarten when I watched Susie O’Neill at the 2000 Sydney Olympics,” McKeon says. “I remember sitting right at the back of the grandstand for one of the swimming sessions and I think I could only see the edge two lanes, but just being in that stadium, I can still remember that energy. Especially because it was a home Games. I remember how it made me feel and that definitely sparked my Olympic dream.

”I think there is going to be young kids in the stands at Brisbane feeling the exact same thing and being inspired by the swimmers. If I have played a small part in all that, then that would be so rewarding.”

McKeon, who retired in November 2024 after claiming her 14th Olympic medal and her fifth gold at the Paris Olympics, says her sometimes difficult journey in competitive swimming has taught her life lessons that will continue to shape her future beyond swimming. Primarily, how to use her perfectionism to her advantage and how to listen to and value the opinions of others.

“I think everything I’ve learned through swimming and the experiences I’ve had will continue to help me in my life and whatever I choose to do,” she says.

The 31-year-old hasn’t been resting on her laurels since hanging up her goggles. She was made an honorary doctor of health sciences by the University of Wollongong last July plus there’s been speaking engagements, a trip to Bangladesh as part of her role as a UNICEF ambassador (“one of the most special, impactful and rewarding things I’ve ever done”), travelling, spending time with family and friends, including her boyfriend, singer and swimmer Cody Simpson, and maintaining her existing brand partnerships with fashion house Christian Dior and Swiss watchmaker Omega.

The relationship with Omega is particularly fitting given that as an athlete, time has always been a defining factor in her life, dictating everything from when her alarm buzzed to start training, how long she would swim or hit the gym for, when she should eat and when she should rest and how long for.

And while career goals were decided years in advance, ultimately fractions of a second could decide whether the medal around her neck would be gold or silver. And it was always an Omega-branded clock that told of victory or disappointment.

“For so long my life revolved around small margins of time and Omega was always part of that. The brand has been present at every international swim meet I have been to,” she says.

“There is a very strong history between Omega and sport in general, and the Olympics in particular, so it’s a real honour to work with the brand and to be part of the family which includes a lot of amazing swimmers and athletes.”

McKeon says she chose to work with Omega and Christian Dior because she admires the quality and history of the high-end brands. “That pursuit of excellence is something I admire and they have such immense attention to detail as well,” she says.

Her work with Dior saw her return to Paris just weeks after the Paris Olympics to attend their Fashion Week event.

“So I was there in Paris in the Olympic uniform, then a month later I was back wearing a gorgeous Dior blazer and skirt at the fashion show,” she says.

With time on her side in a whole new way, McKeon says she is in no real rush to move on to the next phase of her life or career.

“Having done the one thing for so long, it’s been so fun for the last year being able to, firstly, have some me time and travel and do all that kind of stuff. But then secondly, try out different things and I’m really enjoying doing a lot of speaking engagements and sharing my journey and my lessons and experiences with people to encourage them to go after their dreams and their goals and get back up again after they get knocked down,” McKeon says.

Being named Young Australian of the Year in 2024 opened her eyes to how she could inspire young people.

“When I was swimming, I was really caught up in the bubble where everything is so focused on training and improvement and that day-to-day schedule that you have to stick to, but being named Young Australian of the Year made me realise the impact I was having on young people.

“That’s something I really want to hold on to because it’s been important to me.”

While she is intrigued to see what other experiences and opportunities unfold in the future, it will have to be something that inspires a similar passion in her as swimming.

“I’m definitely looking for something that lights me up,” she says.

“I don’t think I will find something that does that in quite the same way as swimming. But hopefully it will be refreshing and rewarding in a whole different way.”

She is guided by words of advice her mum gave her when she was struggling with the pressures that came with competitive swimming.

“She said, ‘You don’t need to do this. If swimming is making you feel this way, then just stop. Find something that makes you happy. Something that you love.’

“That has always stuck with me. There’s always going to be parts of what you do that you don’t enjoy but, overall, you’ve got to find what you love doing and what gives you fulfilment.”

And for those who choose to follow in her chlorine-drenched footsteps, McKeon’s advice is to “dream big”.

“Don’t put limits on yourself because we are often capable of more than we realise.”