Fresh from a ‘three-peat”, the Australian foursome pulled off a fourth feat. The Australians won their fourth consecutive Olympic gold in the 4×100 metres women’s freestyle in Paris, leading almost from start to finish.
The quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris set an Olympic record with a time of 3 minutes, 28.92 seconds, breaking the record the Australians set in Tokyo three years ago.
The Americans won silver and the Chinese bronze.
Australia’s O’Callaghan was slow off the blocks and well behind China’s Yang Junxuan in the opening 50 metres, but then she surged ahead, and the Australians led all the way. Jack and McKeon extended the lead before Meg Harris anchored the team home with a sizzling 51.94 second split.
Behind the success
What explains the Australian success?
Well, nothing succeeds like success.
The Australian foursome also hold the world record in the 4×100 metres freestyle. They set a time of 3:27.96 last year, which remains unbroken.
They have become used to setting records.
O’Callaghan, McKeon and Harris also set the previous Olympic record in Tokyo three years ago, which they broke this year.
🥇GOLD🥇
An Olympic record, and a 6th gold for Emma McKeon. Australia win the 4 x 100m Relay: pic.twitter.com/aet0sOqpzJ— HER WAY (@abbieherway) July 27, 2024
Emma McKeon
It was an especially big win for the 30-year-old McKeon, swimming her final Olympics, as it gave her a sixth Olympic gold and a 12th Olympic medal overall.
That ties McKeon with Americans Katie Ledecky, Jenny Thompson, Natalie Coughlin and Dara Torres for the most career Olympic medals by a women’s swimmer.
McKeon, who won her first Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, returned home with seven medals from Tokyo three years ago, including four gold.
She is now Australia’s most decorated Olympian of all time, surpassing former swimmer Ian Thorpe with her sixth gold medal.
Mollie O’Callaghan
Meanwhile, Mollie O’Callaghan, 20, picked up another gold in Paris, winning the 200 metres freestyle, defeating compatriot Ariarne Titmus, who won the title in Tokyo. With the two golds she won in Paris, O’Callaghan now has four Olympic gold medals. She also helped the Australians win the 4×100 metres medley and the 4×100 metres freestyle in Tokyo.
Meg Harris
Meg Harris, 22, competing in her second Summer Games, now has two Olympic golds, both won in the 4×100 metres freestyle relay, first in Tokyo and now in Paris.
Harris has reached the pinnacle of success despite hearing loss in both ears.
She can normally lip-read others and also taught herself to hear the starter’s gun.
Her hearing loss could be due to nerve damage, probably as a result of illness at a young age, but it is moderate, and she can cope, she says.
Shayna Jack
The Paris gold is especially sweet for Shayna Jack, 25, who made her Olympic debut three years after returning from a doping ban.
From 2019 to 2021, she served a 24-month suspension after testing positive for a banned substance. She didn’t take it intentionally, she said.
She cherished her Olympic moment. “For me it’s definitely about getting up there and doing my country proud,” Jack said after winning the gold in Paris. “It’s a really special moment to stand on the podium with the other three girls.”
There are highs and lows.
Emma McKeon broke down in tears after missing podium in her last individual Olympic race, the 100 metres butterfly, on July 28.
“It’s just emotional,” she said, an athlete planning to retire from the sport.
“I definitely hoped that would’ve been better, but I know I’ve got a lot to be proud of,” said McKeon, who finished sixth.
Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh, who were part of the US team which finished second in the 4×100 metres freestyle, won gold and silver respectively.
“It’s always going to be emotional finishing something that’s brought me so much joy. So many great relationships and so many great life lessons,” said McKeon.