Emma McKeon added to her mountain of world titles on Thursday night and found her eyes welling with tears of joy in the aftermath.
As the five-time Olympic gold medallist soaked up victory in the women’s 100m freestyle at the World Short Course Championships in Melbourne, she revealed the presence of her grandparents in the crowd left her crying during the medal presentation.
“It means a lot,” McKeon said in a pool-side interview with Ariarne Titmus on Nine.
READ MORE: Chalmers wins monster battle with shock twist
READ MORE: ‘Sickened’: Iranian football star facing death penalty
READ MORE: The ‘bizarre’ Eddie Jones apology that turned nasty
“I actually just spotted them for the first time during the presentation then and … I was crying a little bit, so I just had to look away.
“It’s just so special to have them here.
“They haven’t watched me race for probably four years now in person.
“So, to have this event on in their home town … (they were) my motivation for doing it.
“They’re my No.1 supporters and always have been, so I wanted to make sure I could do a good job for them tonight.”
McKeon won the 100m freestyle in a thriller, edging Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey by 0.10 of a second.
The 28-year-old stopped the clock at 50.77 to break the championship record.
Emotional McKeon reveals tears after golden swim
The Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen secured bronze and Australia’s Madi Wilson finished in fourth.
McKeon hailed the crowd as “awesome”.
“A packed stand, it’s a dream come true, really, for us athletes to be able to race in front of a home crowd with a full stand,” McKeon said.
“And like you said, obviously it’s me in the pool doing the laps when I’m racing, but I’ve got a huge team behind me. My family’s part of that, my coach is part of that and I’m so lucky to have them with me all the time.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
Tokyo Olympics 2021: Australia’s swimming gold medallists at this century’s Games
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
