Emma comes from a family with rich swimming pedigree, with both her parents Ron and Susie, and uncle Rob, representing Australia and winning medals across numerous Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

With swimming in her veins, Emma took to the pool from an early age. After narrowly missing out on Australian selection to the 2012 London Olympics, Emma cemented her spot in the team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Emma won four golds and two bronze medals, throwing herself into the Australian sporting spotlight as one of Australia’s best swimmers.

Qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Emma shared her experience with brother David who also swam at a national level. It was in Rio Emma was part of Australia’s all-conquering 4x100m Freestyle relay team that won gold and set a new world record.

Emma performed exceptionally well at her home Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018, with three individual medals to accompany her three relay golds.  In 2019, she won three golds, two silvers and one bronze medal at the World Championships.  By 2020 Tokyo Olympics Emma had cemented herself as one of the worlds best swimmers. Competing in freestyle, butterfly, and relays, Emma faced the prospect of swimming for seven Olympic medals.  Nine days later, she finished the swim meet with just that: Four golds and three bronze.

The Tokyo Olympics saw history be made on many levels. Emma became the most decorated Australian Olympian ever with a combined five gold, two silver, and four bronze medals – 11 medals in total.  She became the most successful Australian athlete at a single Olympics, and the only female in the world, across all sports, to win seven medals at one Olympics.

In 2022 Commonwealth Games Emma became the most successful Commonwealth Games athlete; with 8 medals taking her overall tally to 20, and cementing her as the greatest of all time.  She completed a Bachelor of Public Health at Griffith University complimenting her passion in global health issues. Following on from her studies Emma is a UNICEF supporter. 

Emma McKeon farewells the 2024 Olympic Games as the most decorated Australian Olympian in history winning gold, silver and bronze in Paris.