Olympian Emma McKeon is Our 2024 Young Australian of the Year

She’s also the most successful Aussie Olympian of all time 🥇

She’s known for winning medal after medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. But now swimmer Emma McKeon has a new honour to add to her name – the 2024 Young Australian of the Year. 

The 29-year-old was named the 2024 Young Australian of the Year after being named the Queensland Young Australian of the Year late last year. 

Emma’s won 14 gold medals at three Commonwealth Games, and five gold medals at the Olympics.

She’s broken Commonwealth, Olympic and world records as a swimmer and she became Australia's most successful Olympian before she was 28 years old. Talk about G.O.A.T.

A wholesome message for young swimmers.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Emma McKeon (@emmamckeon)

Accepting the award, Emma had a message for the younger generation of swimmers and athletes.

“I’ve been swimming for as long as I can remember and I grew up being inspired by incredible athletes,” she said.

“So going from that young girl to today, it is still crazy to me that I’ve done what I have in sport.

“And I want young kids to know that I was once in the same position that they are now, hoping and dreaming of one day doing something big.”

McKeon shares three things she’s learned.

To finish, Emma shared three things she’s learned from her time in sports.

“Number one, is don’t worry about the time it will take to achieve your dreams. Obstacles and failures are all part of it when you’re aiming for something high,” she said.

“The second thing, be the best that you can be. We can’t control the results of other people. We can only control the effort that we put in ourselves.

“And three, don’t be afraid to have big dreams, we are capable of far more than we realise.”

We don’t know about you, but it’s got us feeling ready to take on the year 💪

Header Image: Jack Spitser.