Australian superstar swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan is recovering after dislocating her left knee last Saturday, she told SwimSwam. The injury was suffered by the opposite knee from the one she dislocated in 2023 while stretching ahead of the World Championships.
O’Callaghan, who confirmed the injury to SwimSwam, says that she’s taking it “step by step and focusing on healing.”
“I’ll be out of the water for a bit and sticking to modified training for now,” she said. “Luckily, my team and I have experience from my last injury, so we should have a good rehab plan set in place.”
O’Callaghan says that her knee’s structure combined with hypermobility makes her more susceptible to this kind of injury.
O’Callaghan injured her other knee in June of 2023 and at the World Championships in July still won five gold and one silver medal, including individual wins in the 100 and 200 free. The 200 free was a new World Record, indicating that at the time the knee didn’t hinder her.
Since the latest injury, O’Callaghan has been wearing a large brace. She says that she will be “out of the water for a bit and sticking to modified training for now.”
O’Callaghan, only 20, already has a career’s worth of international medals. Her 8 Olympic medals includes 5 gold, winning the 200 free individually at the Paris Games. Only five Australian athletes in history, all swimmers, have more Olympic medals than her.
She also has 8 World Championship gold medals in long course, 3 in short course, and 19 total World Championship medals; 5 Commonwealth Games gold medals; and a World Junior Championships silver from a relay in 2019.
in other news, channel 9’s swimming contract has unfortunately been extended past 2032…
That has officially wrecked my morning.
evidently not the only one, as they’ve been deleting comments critical of channel 9’s commentary, along with a suggestion for tony jones to stay away from the serbian swimming team lol
also adelaide is hosting trials this year. this continues the trend of awarding hosting rights to brisbane/gold coast/adelaide, as only 3 national lc meets have been held elsewhere since 2012. but at least it’s not the msac indoor pool, nor the gold coast who have a habit of trying to buy elite swimming competitions
To be fair, Adelaide is probably our best pool
At least Molly is still training. You have Ariarne swanning around the Australian Open and Shayna in the Jungle while their biggest competitors were out at the World Short Course Championships.
Why do the Aussies alway think they can come back the same after extended breaks. Look at Emma after her heroics in Tokyo. She took an extended break and was a shadow of her former self in Paris.
For Emma, it was her shoulder issues.
There are many examples of swimmers having long breaks and coming back just fine too.
No problem with taking a break after Olympics if they wish. A good year to have a break.
lol Titmus took a break after Tokyo and then came back and immediately broke a WR
At those World juniors in 2019, I think Mollie came 4th in 4 individual events.
David Hume would hate me, but… naturally, this means a new 200FR WR is inbound, right?
Wishing her all the best with recovery!
It’s unfortunate that the things that make some swimmers great make them more susceptible to injuries like this.
I’m sorry to hear MOC deals with hypermobility. I have a swimmer who dealt with the same thing with kneecaps and shoulders–it is a major drag and can come anytime. Rooting for her!
Not the only Aussie female swimmer sporting injuries at the moment hey Lizzie?
Lizzie dekkers? Wrist injury?
Yes, and a 3rd Aussie female who’s name eludes me at the moment with an even worse break into the elbow. Post world’s recreation too much for some.
End of her career
lol what?
Don’t ask him questions he can’t answer.
I’m a knee surgeon
1) a real knee surgeon wouldn’t diagnose strangers on the internet with limited information
2) read the part where six weeks after the prior dislocation, she broke a World Record.