Kaylee McKeown in sad post-race admission after being caught up in Aussie DQ drama
Swimming stars Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O'Callaghan have opened up about their struggles after the Paris Olympics, after the backstroke world record holder had a disqualification at the Australian selection trials overturned. McKeown was left absolutely devastated in the heats of the Aussie selection trials for the Swimming World Championships next month.
A subtle head movement before her 50m backstroke race saw her disqualified from the race and leaving her chances of qualification hanging by a thread. Cate Campbell initially believed McKeown's chances of overturning her DQ would be slim.
Footage showed the Olympic gold medallist flinching - which is illegal in backstroke - while waiting for the start of the race. "There was a little head movement. From the time the starter says 'take your marks' to the point the gun goes, you have to remain completely still," Campbell said on Channel Nine.
McKeown was disqualified for an early start, but after a two-hour appeal, the ban was overturned. McKeown argued she was distracted by movement prior to the starter's signal and the officials agreed.
McKeown - the world record holder - went on to win Monday night's final at the South Australian Aquatic Centre in 27.33 seconds. She managed to hold out young swimming superstar O'Callaghan in a tight race to secure her position at the world championships in Singapore. Although she was well shy of her world record of 26.86 global benchmark set in October 2023.
And the five-time Olympic gold medallist showed real grit having used the earlier drama to propel her to victory. "Things happen and it just crumbled that way," she said.
"I knew as soon as I started, what I had done. But thankfully we had the technology to look back at footage and saw the distraction and I got reinstated."
World Record Holder Kaylee McKeown was called for a False Start in the 50 Back Prelims. (McKeown is in lane 4) https://t.co/EuBLX9t7V8
— SwimSwam Live (@SwimSwamLive) June 9, 2025
And bravely, McKeown opened up on her mental health battles after being so successful in the pool at the Olympics. McKeown became the first Australian swimmer to win four individual medals at an Olympics after blitzing the competition in Paris.
The 23-year-old has five Olympic gold medals and became one of the superstars of Australian sport. However, late last year McKeon withdrew from the World Cup series in China just one day into the competition having admitted she needed ti priorities her mental health.
And after speaking to Channel Nine after earning qualification to Singapore in her best event, McKeown was honest about her state of mind. "Coming off the Olympics, I was in a really dark place mentally," McKeown said. "When you go from such a high, straight back to such a low, and you're left scrambling for ideas on what you're going to do next, it is hard to find your feet once again."
Speaking about the mental battles, McKeown said Aussie swimmers place a lot of pressure on themselves when competing for their country. "I don't think people really know ... how much pressure we put on ourselves," McKeown added in Adelaide.
"You're just so fixated on wanting to swim for yourself, for your country and for your team. You have all that amount of pressure to just do it ... and it (winning or not) really just comes down to nail bites."
And in a touching moment, O'Callaghan agreed with McKeown and opened up about her own struggles. "I'm the exact same as Kaylee," O'Callaghan said. "There's immense pressure to perform at the Olympic Games, it's the pinnacle of our sport."
O'Callaghan shot to superstardom in the pool having beaten Ariarne Titmus in the 200m event. She finished with three individual gold medals, before she had even turned 20 years old.
And the swimmer admitted all the time in the pool meant she had lost a lot of her social life. "I noticed I don't have friends outside of swimming because I have dedicated such a strong amount of time from school to now," O'Callaghan said. And it was being able to separate swimming and her private life that enabled O'Callaghan to find that balance.
"That was something after the Olympics I got to learn, was actually having that freedom for five months to be able to go places, do things, without the consequence of swimming or having swimming in the back of my mind," she added. "And it's just a nice refresher to know that there's opportunities and there's other connections outside (swimming) because a lot of the time our bubble is just swimming."
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