Kaylee McKeown, who lost her father to a terminal illness just a year before the Tokyo Games, finds strength in his memory, propelling her to greater heights at the Olympics. On Tuesday, McKeown successfully defended her 100m backstroke title from Tokyo, surpassing her American competitor Regan Smith to claim her fourth Olympic gold medal, thereby joining an elite group of swimmers with three individual titles. Throughout the race, McKeown kept her father Sholto in her thoughts as she overtook Smith and Katharine Berkoff, the bronze medalist, in a typically intense final lap.
"I have a little bit of a superpower and that's my dad ... I know that he's here in spirit," McKeown remarked. The 23-year-old Australian swimmer has a tattoo on her foot that reads "I'll always be with you," a tribute added after her father's struggle with brain cancer. "He’d be extremely proud. It’s great to have my family here because I know that he’s here in spirit," she expressed.
"No words can really amount to how much I appreciate (my family's) support. They deal with a lot of it, so thank you for all of that."
