On the heels of Swimming Australia announcing winners of its annual awards, Emma McKeon has been named Queensland’s Young Australian of the Year nominee.
The 29-year-old will now represent her state alongside other nominees at the overall Australian of the Year awards which take place in January in Canberra.
On her nomination, McKeon stated, “I am extremely honoured to be Queensland’s nomination for Young Australian of the year. Last night was an amazing opportunity to listen to the other nominees and award winners about the incredible things they are doing for this country. They are truly inspiring. Thank you.”
Acting Queensland Premier Steven Miles said the awards exemplified outstanding Queenslanders from all walks of life.
“The recipients have been recognised for their outstanding contributions to Queensland and Australia, and their tireless efforts and dedication to making positive change and improving the lives of others,” he said. (The West)
McKeon is the most successful Australian Olympian of all time At the 2020 Olympics, McKeon became the first female swimmer and just the second woman in history to earn seven medals in a single Games.
She is also the most decorated Commonwealth Games gold medalist of all time.
Man, swimming (and athletics in general) really skews stuff, huh?
In a swimming-specific context McKeon is nearly ancient, in any other – like this award – ya, she’s still “young.”
The cutoff for this award is 30. As you said, in any other industry, someone at the top of the world at 30 years old would be considered extremely young for that level of success.
Yup. “30 under 30” list for most accomplished young achievers is extremely common in any industry.
But in swimming, over 25 especially for female swimmers is ancient.
Crazy to think that outsiders see her as young whereas she’s about 107 in swimming years