With the 2032 Olympic Games heading to Brisbane, Australia, in 2032, comes an enticing opportunity for Olympic legend Kaylee McKeown to have a picture-perfect send-off.
According to a report from ABC News Australia, McKeown has not yet decided what her future in the sport holds beyond the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. However, she will “not rule out extending her career through the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.”
McKeown, the 50 and 200 backstroke world record holder, has already hinted at the beginning of the end for her illustrious career, having previously announced that this upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will be her last. The decision to push beyond the Los Angeles Games will also come after some time away from the water.
“You never know when it’s going to be your last. The last Commonwealth [Games] could have been my last,” McKeown said in the report from ABC News. “After LA, I’m going to take some time off and probably think about what I want to do.”
McKewon, the soon-to-be 25-year-old, was not born in time to witness the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, which also fuels her potential desire to race in a home Olympics.
“I would love to be able to represent my country on home soil,” McKeown said in the report from ABC News. “I missed out on 2000 [Sydney Olympics]. I was born in 2001, so I missed out on it completely, but you hear about it… You hear about all the greats and just the amount of people that were there to support them.”
McKeown has had a taste of a major championship on home soil, having raced at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, but the magnitude of the Olympics carries more weight than just any other meet.
“There’s nothing better. I had the Commonwealth Games in 2018 on home soil, and that was cool in itself, so I couldn’t imagine an Olympics.”
McKeown has talked about the mental struggles that she went through following a very strong showing in Paris at the 2024 Olympics, where she defended both the 100 and 200 backstroke Olympic titles. Those struggles have helped McKeown compete with a new, happier mindset as she prepares for the Commonwealth Games later this month.
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