O’Neill backs star in fly try
AUSTRALIAN swimming’s own Madame Butterfly has applauded Emma McKeon’s plan to add the 200m fly to her program for next year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Susie O’Neill, a former world record-holder in the 200m butterfly who won the event at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, believes the event is a natural fit for McKeon if she can fit it into an already busy schedule.
McKeon became the first Australian woman to win six medals at a single world championships when she won four silver and two bronze from a stacked program in Budapest earlier this year.
But McKeon, who now trains on the Gold Coast just 5km from the Games pool, is likely to increase her workload even further, adding the 200m butterfly to her program in a move that is likely to give her seven events next April.
It’s a move O’Neill believes would reap rewards.
“She’d be awesome at the 200m fly,” O’Neill said.
“It just depends whether she can fit it into her program.”
O’Neill knows plenty about taking on multiple events.
But she said the Commonwealth Games was the perfect testing ground and adding the 200m butterfly on the Gold Coast would be a safe move for McKeon.
“I think I did the 100m, 200m and 400m free and 100m, 200m fly and relays,” O’Neill said of the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games where she won six gold medals.
“We didn’t have semi-finals when I did that. But Commonwealth Games is a good opportunity to (expand your program). And she probably swims better when she’s doing multiple events.
“It’s hard to do that at Olympic level because you’ve got to do all your events hard.
“But at Commonwealth Games, she should be able to go easier in the semis.”
Australia’s swimmers will be under pressure to perform at a home Games and McKeon will be one of the faces of an Australian team that faces challenges from the likes of Canada and England.
It’s something O’Neill knows about after she headed into the Sydney Olympics the raging favourite in the 200m butterfly as world record-holder but walked away without the gold she coveted most.
“I don’t want to talk up Emma too much because I don’t want to put any pressure on her – I know what it’s like,” O’Neill said.
While the final of the event is the same night as the 100m freestyle – a race already on McKeon’s schedule – she may still elect to add it to her program given the return of former sprint freestyle world record-holder Cate Campbell.