SYDNEY (AP) — Five-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Kaylee McKeown is out of the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacific Championships which follow due to glandular fever.
The star backstroker won both the 100- and 200-meter distances at the Tokyo Olympics and repeated the feat at the Paris Games in 2024. She also won both events at the world championships in Singapore last year.
“I am gutted to medically withdraw,” McKeown said in a Swimming Australia statement Friday. “What I thought a few months ago was flu has turned out to be my body fighting glandular fever.
“I was sick going into trials and I have just not got better and I am worried about pushing myself so hard that I end up with chronic fatigue. It was a hard decision to make but the right one.”
The 24-year-old McKeown is planning to swim at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The star backstroker won both the 100- and 200-meter distances at the Tokyo Olympics and repeated the feat at the Paris Games in 2024. She also won both events at the world championships in Singapore last year.
“I am gutted to medically withdraw,” McKeown said in a Swimming Australia statement Friday. “What I thought a few months ago was flu has turned out to be my body fighting glandular fever.
“I was sick going into trials and I have just not got better and I am worried about pushing myself so hard that I end up with chronic fatigue. It was a hard decision to make but the right one.”
The 24-year-old McKeown is planning to swim at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
22 days ago
