Let McKeon dance plea
SOCIAL media-savvy swimmers have launched a campaign to get Emma McKeon reinstated for the Olympic closing ceremony, putting them on a collision course with furious Australian officials.
Chef de mission Kitty Chiller yesterday ruled with an iron fist on athlete behaviour, banning McKeon and Joshua Palmer from the closing cer- emony and instigating stricter curfew controls around all athletes for the remainder of the Games.
McKeon and Palmer are now banned from leaving the village between 8pm and 8am, set to live the rest of their Games under virtual house arrest for different breaches of protocols on the same night.
McKeon became separated from her teammates and instead of catching a cab to the village alone, she stayed the night with female Swedish friends in the Copa district before returning the next day.
But the four times Olympic medallist in Rio failed to notify anyone of her plans and missed a scheduled Sunrise TV interview at 7.30am with officials only becoming aware of her absence when she returned to the village at 10am.
Palmer, 25, was found disoriented and blind drunk on a Copacabana Beach at 2pm after a drinking session that started at 10pm the previous night.
He had been held up at gunpoint and forced to withdraw $1000 at an ATM, but refused to file a police report after the Ryan Lochte fiasco this week.
Only when he was discovered by an Australian businessman, who alerted the Australian consulate, was our Olympic team aware he was missing.
The fact two swimmers were missing for a period of time has infuriated Chiller and forced her to take a hardline stance on behaviour to protect the security and safety of her team.
But the fact McKeon has copped the same punishment as Palmer has upset many within the swim team, with her father Ron McKeon labelling the ban “quite harsh” while several swimmers posted social media messages with the #letherdance hashtag.
Former Australian swimmer Melanie Wright, the 2012 Olympic relay gold medallist, said the punishment of McKeon did not fit the crime and launched her own change.org online petition to allow McKeon to march in Sunday’s closing ceremony. “Completely over the top punishment for @emma_mckeon. This girl would avoid getting involved in a pillow fight. Too harsh for a small mistake,” Wright posted on Twitter.
Ron McKeon said he fears Emma’s reputation is being tarnished, adding she wasn’t drunk and her only mistake was failing to send a text message to team management.