Olympic champion and six-time Commonwealth Games medallist Kaylee McKeown has been forced to medically withdraw from the upcoming Games in Glasgow, less than two weeks out from the start of competition.
McKeown – one of the greatest backstrokers of all time and a five-time Olympic gold medal winner – announced her withdrawal in an op-ed penned in The Daily Telegraph on Friday morning after blood tests confirmed she had glandular fever.
The 24-year-old’s withdrawal is a huge blow for the Australian swim team in Glasgow, with McKeown winning the women’s 100m and 200m backstroke at the 2022 Games in Birmingham and swimming as part of the team that won gold in the women’s 4x100m medley relay and mixed 4x100m medley relay.
She also won a silver medal in the women’s 200m individual medley and a bronze in the 50m backstroke.
McKeown said the news would be a shock to her Dolphins’ teammates – most of whom would find out about her withdrawal at the same time as the Australian public. She has also withdrawn from the Pan Pacific Championships in California next month.
“What I thought a few months ago was the flu has turned out to be my body fighting glandular fever, and everything makes sense now,” McKeown said.
“The loss of breath and fatigue just after an easy warm-up, not being able to eat, feeling tired all the time, insomnia combined with napping. But the big tell for me was this: sleeping for hours and waking up feeling like I hadn’t slept at all.
“I was swimming times I hadn’t seen since I was 13 and struggling with gym weights I would normally lift with ease.
“Still, I kept pushing through, convincing myself I was just in a hole and that if I worked hard enough, I’d eventually find my way out of it. But deep down, I knew something wasn’t right. My body wasn’t just tired — it felt like it was trying to tell me something, and I had been refusing to listen.”
More to come
Billie Eder is a sports reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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