“She is a weapon”: McKeown defends Olympic crown with record swim

Kaylee McKeown has defended her Olympic crown in the 100m backstroke by winning gold with a superb swim in Paris.

Turning at the 50m in fourth place, the 23-year-old produced a devastating burst to power over the top of world record holder Regan Smith of the USA, winning in 57.33 to set a new Olympic record.

McKeown became just the second woman in Olympic history to defend her 100m backstroke title.

Kaylee’s older sister Taylor, an Olympic silver medallist in her own right, joined Garry Lyon and Tim Watson on SEN Breakfast live from the French capital just hours after the gold medal swim.

Taylor, who described her sibling as a “weapon”, admitted Kaylee felt some nerves after her heat swim but put all that behind her to again conquer the world.

“She said after the heat that she was feeling nervous and she said the crowd was really big and made her feel really small and a bit overwhelmed,” Taylor McKeown said.

“But I feel like that’s the whole point of doing a heat swim, you blow out the cobwebs and then you can relax into the semi-final and final.

“Despite the way she was feeling she has gone out there and done what she does best and absolutely flamed everybody. We are over the moon for her.

“She is a weapon and she deserves all the praise and support. I encourage everyone to keep watching because she has a lot more events to go.”

Kaylee herself paid tribute to her late father, Sholto, who passed away in 2020 following a battle with brain cancer.

“I like to think I have a little superpower and that's my dad,” the Queenslander said on Channel 9.

“I believe he was with me tonight. I'm just over the moon.

“It's great to have my family here because I know that he's here in spirit.”

It was McKeown’s third individual Olympic gold medal. She joins Shane Gould, Dawn Fraser, Ian Thorpe, Betty Cuthbert, Murray Rose and Ariarne Titmus as the only Aussie athletes to win three individual gold medals at the Olympic Games.

She begins her quest to defend her 200m backstroke title from Tokyo on Thursday night.

The Aussies nabbed another medal overnight with Max Giuliani, Flynn Southam, Elijah Winnington and Thomas Neill claiming bronze in the men's 4x200m freestyle.

Australia’s latest tally sits at 6 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze for a total of 11 medals. Only Japan with 7 has more gold medals at this point in time.