Olympic hero Cam McEvoy pays heartfelt tribute to wife Maddi and newborn son after winning historic world title
McEvoy, 31, triumphed on Saturday night in Singapore to become Australia's oldest gold medallist at a swimming world championships.
His feat overshadowed fellow Australian Kaylee McKeown completing her golden backstroke double with a victory over 200m.
Exactly 12 months after both won Olympic gold in the events, the repeat was particularly compelling for McEvoy, the first Australian man to twice win 50m freestyle world titles.
Following his 2023 victory in Japan and silver last year in Qatar, McEvoy clocked 21.14 seconds in Singapore to prevail ahead of Great Britain's Ben Proud (21.26) and American Jack Alexy (21.46).
McEvoy became a father for the first time three weeks ago when his wife Maddi gave birth to a son, Hartley.
'It has given me a new light on the sport, on life, something new to navigate,' McEvoy said.
'And I'll see where it takes me in the future.
'It's unreal. It's been a pretty hectic preparation, I'm just glad that I got my hand on the wall first in a great time.'
McEvoy almost quit the sport in 2022 but after much soul-searching he continued, vowing to do things his way and creating his own revolutionary training regime.
Now he doesn't know when he'll swim again.
'But I'm not stopping,' McEvoy said.
'Imagine telling myself in 2022 this is where I'd be — you couldn't write a script like that.
'The dream lives on, right? My story just goes for a while.'
McEvoy paid tribute to his wife, who watched the final with their son wearing a 'go Dad' T-shirt.
'Shoutout to Maddi at home, I couldn't be here without her; shoutout to Hartley, my three-week-old son,' he said.
'I'm going straight to the newborn trenches.
'I'll start to do the night routines, help Maddi, and just enjoy the bubble, really.
'It sounds cliche, but win or lose, I'm going home a winner.
'It has given me a new light on the sport, on life, something new to navigate.
'And I'll see where it takes me in the future.'
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