Australia’s swimming heroes Mollie O’Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown will take some time off after the Olympics and skip the World Cup legs later this year after an emotional and draining week where both won five medals at the Paris Games.
O’Callaghan won three golds, a silver and a bronze while McKeown claimed two golds, a silver and two bronze medals as the two swimmers had their most successful Games and topped the individual medal charts for Australia.
The Asian legs of the World Cup will be held in Shanghai, Incheon and Singapore in October and November but O’Callaghan said she needed to take a breather to “reset and re-evaluate” before competing again.
“I’m extremely tired, it’s been an emotional, draining week. I’ve had to try and keep myself together. There’s been a lot of happiness, a lot of sadness. And it’s really hard to process,” O’Callaghan told reporters.
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“I need to have a good, long break. I need to have a mental break. People don’t see behind (the scenes), us training every day. It’s really, really mentally draining and it’s really tough,” she added. “We are so self-critical. We’re so hard on ourselves. We drain ourselves every day to just do a few laps in the water... We’re doing everything that it takes to get a few little seconds off for moments like this.”
When McKeown was asked if she would go to the World Cup, she said: “Same answer as Mollie.”
The 23-year-old, who convinced her 4x100m medley relay teammates to leap into the pool in their tracksuits at the end of the meet, said they had done the best that they could even though the U.S. pipped them to the top of the medals chart.
“This Olympic Games, I wanted to challenge myself... There’s nothing else that I would have done different. But in saying that, I haven’t had time to reflect,” McKeown said.
“I’m sure if I do reflect, I’ll nitpick everything as athletes do. But I’m just so proud of myself, my team, my coach, just all of Australia really. We’ve come together,” she said. “I’m not sure what this year will hold for me. I’ll probably take a bit of time out of the sport. I need to be able to do that just to mentally refresh. I don’t think people realise how hard it is in a nine-day meet.”
China’s proud Zhang to take a break after six-medal Games
China’s Zhang Yufei has said she would like to take a break from swimming and experience other things in life after ending her Paris Games with six medals to become her country’s most decorated Olympic swimmer.
The 26-year-old claimed a bronze in the 50 metres freestyle and 4x100 metres medley relay on Sunday to take her career tally to 10 over the Tokyo and Paris Olympics after coming home empty-handed from her debut in Rio.
“This is my third Olympics,” Zhang told reporters. “I’ve spent 12 years fully concentrated on swimming and never tried anything else. After this Olympics I’d like to experience other aspects in life.”
China’s Zhang Yufei poses for a photo with her bronze medal on the podium for the women’s 50-meter freestyle at the Paris 2024 Olympics. | Photo Credit: AP
Zhang won three other bronze medals in 100 and 200 butterfly and the 4x100 freestyle relay. She also won silver in the mixed 4x100 medley relay.
Not adding to the gold medals she won in the 200 butterfly and 4x200 freestyle relay in Tokyo might have been a disappointment for some of her fans back home but not for Zhang.
“If you look at my times in the individual races, they weren’t that good,” Zhang said. “That considered I still won six medals. For me personally that was already a huge breakthrough. I feel especially proud of myself.”
Zhang, like 10 other Chinese swimmers, was competing in Paris in the shadow of a doping row that dominated the run-up to the Games.
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