Reigning Olympic 50m freestyle champion Cameron McEvoy and wife Madeline have announced the birth of their first child, Hartley James McEvoy, born on Thursday, July 10th.
The Australian couple made the announcement in a joint Instagram post, writing, “His name an ode to the strength of the heart.”
He added: “We walked into the hospital at 4pm, not knowing we were just hours away from meeting our son. Maddi was so calm that everyone in the room was shocked when they found out she was 8cm dilated. We had a well thought out birthing plan because of Maddi’s heart which basically involved as little pain as possible to keep her heart rate down. But Hartley seemed to have different plans. Before we knew it, he was earth side in our hands before 7pm. It was fast, wild, calm, and beautiful all at the same time. A blur and yet the clearest moments of our lives. Words do so little for how much we love this little guy already. Mum and baby are both doing exceptionally well. A little H(e)art goes a long way.”
McEvoy married Madeline back in February after getting engaged at the end of 2024. Madeline is a registered nurse and 2nd year PhD candidate at Griffith University, where she is studying wounds and using machine learning to predict surgical wound complications. McEvoy is known as “the professor” for his academic prowess, graduating with a degree in physics and mathematics from Griffith and with a goal of becoming an astronaut after his swimming career is over.
The new father’s path to Olympic gold was a long one. McEvoy has competed at four Olympic Games – London, Rio, Tokyo, and Paris – but individual gold eluded him until this past summer. At his first Olympics in London 2012, he swam in the heats of the 4×100 freestyle and 4×200 freestyle relays, with Australia touching fourth and fifth, respectively.
He entered the 2016 Rio Olympics as the heavy favorite in the 100 free after clocking 47.04 at the Australian Olympic Trials, a mark that still stands as the Australian record. However, he placed 7th in the Olympic final with a time of 48.12, though he did earn bronze medals as part of Australia’s 4×100 free and 4×100 medley relay teams.
At the Tokyo 2020 Games, McEvoy picked up another bronze medal as a member of Australia’s 4×100 free relay team, swimming only in the prelims. He also contested the 50 free individually, but touched 29th in the prelims with a time of 22.31. Frustrated with his results, McEvoy took an extended break from the sport.
His return in 2023 under coach Tim Lane marked a turning point. Focusing solely on the 50 free with the occasional 50 fly swim, McEvoy won the 50 free at the 2023 World Championships by 0.51, scorching a personal best time of 21.06 that made him the fourth-fastest man in history and just 0.02 shy of Caeleb Dressel‘s textile all-time best of 21.04. He followed that up with his long-awaited Olympic breakthrough in Paris, claiming gold in the 50 free thanks to his dominant final 20 meters. He touched the wall in 21.25, just ahead of Benjamin Proud (21.30) of Great Britain and Florent Manaudou (21.56) of France.
At the World Championships, McEvoy has collected nine medals across his career. His first came with silver in the 4×100 medley relay at Barcelona 2013, followed by a strong showing at Kazan 2015 where he earned silver in both the 100 free and 4×100 medley relay, plus bronze in the 4×200 free. At Gwangju 2019, he won gold in the 4×100 free relay and silver in the 4×100 mixed free relay. Besides his Fukuoka 50 free gold, he most recently added silver in the 50 free and bronze in the 50 fly at Doha 2024 to round out his collection.
McEvoy is slated to swim the 50 free at the Worlds in Singapore later this month, which begin on July 26 and span through August 3. He earned his spot on the team by winning the 50 free at the Australian Trials in June with a world-leading time of 21.30. The 50 free heats and semifinals are scheduled for Friday, August 1, with the final on Saturday, August 2.
Any fears that the birth may cause him to miss the Worlds were quickly put to rest when the 31-year-old posted to his Instagram page on Monday, July 14, writing “Post gym technique session with the 1080 (a swim tool used for resisted and assisted training) pre World Champs.”
So happy for them 😁
Congrats guys.