Emma McKeon has called time on her illustrious sporting career. The champion swimmer is Australia's most decorated Olympian in history. The Wollongong export has 14 Olympic medals to her name, six of them gold.
Here, we look back at the life of the humble superfish who took breaking records in her stride. For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here . McKeon took to swimming at an early age.
It's in her blood. Both her parents were elite swimmers. Her father, Ron, competed at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.
He also won four Commonwealth Games gold medals. Her mother Susie swam at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane 1982. Growing up, McKeon spent a lot of her time in the water.
And with her parents running a swimming school in Wollongong, a coastal city south of Sydney, it was near impossible to avoid a beach or a pool. In the early days of her career, her father Ron coached both Emma and her brother David. During their teenage years, both siblings decided to move to Queensland to continue training.
Ron gave them his full support. "I loved having my dad as my coach, but he also wanted the both of us to know what it was like to have a coach that wasn't your dad. He wanted to let us have that opportunity," McKeontold Swimming World in 2021.
"It was hard because it was just what I was so used to, but it was also good for me to grow and also work harder." McKeon was just 16 when she competed at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore. Her young talent shone.
At the end .