Australian world record holder Mollie O’Callaghan took home her second consecutive Olympic Program Swimmer of the Year honor at the 2023 Swimming Australia Awards on Friday in Brisbane.
At 19 years old, O’Callaghan became the first woman to sweep the 100-meter freestyle and 200 free at the same World Championships this summer in Fukuoka, Japan. Her 200 free victory came in a winning time of 1:52.85, breaking Federica Pellegrini‘s world record that had stood untouched for 14 years. O’Callaghan also set world records leading off the 400 free and 800 free relays with splits of 52.08 and 1:53.66, respectively.
Remarkably, O’Callaghan repeated as world champion in the 100 free and reached new heights in the 200 free after reportedly tweaking her knee the month prior. She beat out fellow world champions Kaylee McKeown (women’s 50 back/100 back/200 back), Ariarne Titmus (women’s 400 free), Sam Short (men’s 400 free), Cameron McEvoy (50 free), and Kyle Chalmers (men’s 100 free) for Australia’s top honor. Last month, McKeown was crowned as the Best Female Swimmer of the Year by World Aquatics.
Five-time world champion Rowan Crothers defended his 50 free and 100 free titles in Manchester this year to secure Paralympic Swimmer of the Year honors while Chelsea Gubecka earned Open Water Swimmer of the Year for her runner-up effort in the 10km at Worlds. Crothers also won Paralympic Swimmer of the Year honors in 2022.
“We are immensely proud of all that Rowan, Mollie and Chelsea have achieved this year and fortunate to have ambassadors for our sport like them that represent our values of courage, unity and excellence,” Swimming Australia CEO Steve Newman said. “The Dolphins have had an incredible year of success. First on the medal table in Fukuoka in the pool, a top six finish on the medal table at the Para World Championships, and our best result for our Open Water team at the World Aquatics World Championships. This team continues to set the standard and, in doing so, inspires the next generation of Dolphins. Tonight, has been a fitting celebration of what all our athletes have achieved, in conjunction with their coaches and the support staff.”
Dean Boxall, coach of O’Callaghan and Titmus, was named Coach of the Year over contenders such as Michael Bohl (McKeown), Tim Lane (McEvoy), and Damien Jones (Short). Kate Sparkes clinched both Paralympic Coach of the Year and Open Water Coach of the Year.
There was a slew of other awards announced by Swimming Australia, including Madi Wilson winning the Swimmers’ Swimmer of the Year honor and Olivia Wunsch claiming the Flippers Athlete of the Year award after capturing World Junior titles in the 50 free (24.59) and 100 free (53.71) in September.
Swimming Australia also inducted a trio into its Hall of Fame: Lorraine Crapp, Murray Rose, and Susie O’Neill. They join last year’s inaugural class of Freddie Lane, Fanny Durack, Dawn Fraser, Shane Gould, and Ian Thorpe. Alexa Leary earned AIS Discovery of the Year honors as the top Para rookie while Eli Jack Bruggeman was named Pho3nix Junior Excellence Swimmer of the Year.
Would any American even be nominated compared to those 4?
How many Golds did MOC win including relays? That might have put her over the top?
Ledecky would’ve been nominated over Short if she was Australian I would say. But no other American would.
Kaylee won 3 individual gold, 2 relay silver. No world records at Worlds but 3 individual WR for the year.
Mollie won 2 individual gold, 3 relay gold and relay silver. 1 individual WR and 3 relay WR.
..
Arnie, Mollie or Kaylee would all be worthy winners!
Kaylee and Arnie got “kneecapped” by MOC. It’s incredible that neither of them, or any swim media anywhere, has raised an eyebrow about MOC’s knee or the pre- and post-meet statements made–especially given that MOC said she was still rehabbing the knee even AFTER Fukuoka. Notice Arnie not in any photos with MOC though here or otherwise on social media, despite MOC’s patronizing of Arnie on the 200m Free medal stand.
Ah this guy again. Always with a different name but always the exact same phrasing trying to cast doubt on MOC’s achievements and fabricate drama with her peers. Aren’t you bored yet?
Dislocate knee cap. Break oldest record in swimming. Makes a lot of sense. Even Ian Hanson can’t spin that one.
“Teenager improves in event where she is already elite and has been improving year on year despite minor injury one month prior”. Yeah, better get Anderson Cooper on that one.
It makes me so happy when people show how jealous they are that Australia’s doing so well.
Hey, is it common for the elite teenager swimmer to have a “rectus abdominis” cramp in the middle of a race too? Looks like the AUS high performance sports science team may have overshot there too.
https://wwos.nine.com.au/swimming/fina-world-swimming-championships-mollie-ocallaghan-overcomes-brutal-cramp-to-help-aussies-to-gold-medal-world-record-in-womens-4x200m-freestyle-relay/af9ba948-dbbf-4b02-9794-3d9e5a99f967
As for Anderson Cooper, we’ll let ASADA and ITA sort through things first, we’re on the ground here in AUS. Cheers mate.
I don’t even understand this. You’re suggesting she’s chemically enhanced because she got a cramp?
Also why is it when you keep changing your username you sometimes pretend to be Australian? Like, you would be more credible if you just posted using the same name lol.
They’ve been doing these kinds of posts since just after Tokyo but previously the target was Arnie.
Seems like every time an Australian wins a gold medal its supposedly due to some dark conspiracy.
Emma McKeon had stood on podiums alongside Sjostrom, Ledecky and Pellegrini at Olympics/World Champs and had a mountain of international medals but when she stepped up onto the top of the podium at Tokyo it triggered the usual conspiracy theorists.
Of course, if an American, like Nic Fink, suddenly begins winning gold medals approaching age 30 after having nothing like McKeon’s record of achievement then the same conspiracy theorists’ suspicious nature seems to desert them.
Australia won 9 gold medals at Tokyo and 13 gold at Fukuoka. Get over it!
Very this. Some people just absolutely cannot handle losing so they need to convince themselves it’s a conspiracy.
You mean Titmus who worked with a strength and conditioning coach who also *checks notes* worked with a rugby player. Scandal!
So Kaylee and Arnie didn’t swim at their very best because they thought Mollie wasn’t at her very best?
Whatever they’re teaching you kids in junior high, it isn’t clear thinking.
How many alts do you use to spread your hate because you’re jealous?
Whats 20 year old Mollie going to do in 2024?
100m Free -51.78
200m Free -1.52.55
100m Back – 58.05
51.78 and 1:52.55 both seem realistically possible but are probably close to a best case scenario.
I actually think the 58.05 is the most likely, assuming she properly targets back
She’ll swim it at trials and then allow someone else to take her spot.
At only 19 yo, MOC is also a double 100 free world champion, only the third female swimmer to do so after Kornelia Ender and Simone Manuel.
Was expecting it to be Kaylee but Mollie also deserving. I assume they probably decided the winner before Kaylee broke her 2 recent world records.
More motivation for Kaylee to make history next year!
The 3 main awards are judged only on performances at the target meet for the year, World Champs/Para WC/OW Champs.
MOC – 2 individual gold (1x WR) + 3 relay golds (3 x WR), and 1 relay silver
Kaylee – 3 individual gold, 2 relay silver
That makes sense.
I (along with Swimswam) also thought MOC was the female swimmer of Fukuoka despite World Aquatics chose Kaylee McKeown.
MOC’s amazing WR and being instrumental in 3 relays that destroyed WR put her above Kaylee.
I think Kaylee was the best Australian Swimmer of the Year, but MOC was the best Australian Swimmer of the World Championships.
For many, the latter is synonymous with the former.
Agreed.
MOC is the MVP female swimmer of Fukuoka.
Kaylee with 3 world records, 3 individual worlds golds and top 25 times in 8 events is hands down the female swimmer of the year.
I could be wrong but I feel like the coaching awards were announced a while ago (before the world cups) so it wouldn’t be surprising if thats when they decided for the swimmers so assuming thats the case Mollie makes sense because Swimming Australia doesn’t really need/want to devalue relay performances when selecting their own swimmer of the year the way world aquatics/swimming media/even us as swimming fans would because to them it doesn’t really matter that swimmers from countries like Aus and USA have greater relay opportunities than others
That’s my assumption as well.