Olympic ace fights through the pain

TRIPLE Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown has revealed she swam through pain to achieve her Tokyo heroics, having torn cartilage in a shoulder on the eve of the Games.

McKeown, who won the 100m and 200m backstroke and was a member of the gold medal-winning medley relay team in Tokyo, tore the labrum in her shoulder in a gym session at the Australian team’s pre-departure camp in Cairns.

But she “just put up with the pain” in an Olympic debut that now seems miraculous.

“I tore the labrum in my left shoulder … we’ve come to the conclusion that I did it here in Cairns and just put up with the pain,” McKeown (pictured) said after returning to the far north Queensland city for a clinic with juniors.

“Honestly it didn’t affect my Olympics at all. I was in quite a bit of pain, especially the last two days heading into the 200m backstroke and the relay, but there wasn’t anything I could do to make it better, so there was no point complaining about it.”

She is still dealing with the injury though and a 2022 program she still hopes will include both the world titles and Commonwealth Games could be affected.

McKeown is set to miss December’s Queensland titles as she is relegated to kick sets until the end of the year.

After consulting national team doctor Luke Eggleston, McKeown rejected a surgical option to repair the damage.

“I’ve had the best of the best tell me that’s not the best option to go with because it won’t be the best thing with my stroke,” McKeown said.

“So it’s a matter of getting it strong again and getting it ready to go.”