Olympic greatness beckons for Australia’s best medal chances — Illawarra’s awesome foursome

With the clock ticking down to the Tokyo Games, four of Australia’s best medal chances — all hailing from the Illawarra in New South Wales — are putting the final touches to their Olympic preparations.

The women including swimmer Emma McKeon, surfer Sally Fitzgibbons, long-distance runner Jessica Hull, and cyclist Kaarle McCulloch used the Game’s year-long delay to build strength and resilience.

Emma McKeon

With four Olympic swimming medals already to her name, Wollongong’s Emma McKeon is keen to have the feeling of gold in her hands once again.

After the initial devastation of news of the Games’ delay, McKeon used the time to reflect on her own goals.

“I tried to refocus and think ‘I put all this work in and whether they are on or not I want to be able to do a good time and show myself what I have been training for’,” she said.

“But now I have got a lot more hope and I obviously know it is going to go ahead. It gives me a bit more spark as well.”

Much of her year was spent training at local pools around the Illawarra including the University of Wollongong pool, where she was coached as a child by her two-time Olympian father Ron McKeon.

“But we would always stand on the edge and not want to get in, in winter when it was freezing, and he would get the hose out and spray us in the hopes we would get in.

“Or I would just get under his umbrella, so he just felt bad for me and couldn’t make me get in.”

McKeon has set blistering times at recent national championships ahead of the Australian Olympic qualifying trials in Adelaide over the weekend where she broke the Australian record in the 100 metres butterfly.

Her time of 55.93 seconds is the fourth-fastest swim in the event’s history and the fastest time in the world this year.

The win officially booked her ticket to the Games.

She is expected to have one of the busiest schedules for the Dolphins at the Games including 200m and 100m freestyle, 100 butterfly, and four relays.

McKeon said she had prepared herself for a very different Games without the support of family.

“It will be hard, I think, not having my family there, especially my family. My mum and my sister have always been there at big events so I think that will be hard. But I know they will be back here cheering,” she said.

McKeon said she hoped the Games were a great light of hope for the world.

Sally Fitzgibbons

Off the back of gold at the International Surfing Association World Games in El Salvador, Gerroa’s Sally Fitzgibbons is a favourite for a medal at the debut of the sport in Tokyo.

After her World Surf League title win at Rottnest Island in Western Australia last month, Fitzgibbons blitzed the 51-nation field in the World Surfing Games at Lo Bocana and El Sunzal surf breaks.

Last week, Fitzgibbons shared on Instagram her official invitation to the Australian Olympic team, recently rebranded the Irukandjis.

Fitzgibbons booked her Games spot in October 2019 through the WSL tour and it carried over the year’s delay.

“I think it is just the belief that I know it is possible, but dealing with the ocean you have just got to wait for all those planets to align.

“I feel the energy around that and hopefully I am coming home with gold.”

Fitzgibbons already has a number one world ranking to her name and is a three-time WSL runner-up, but said the Games would be something special.

“When you sit back in the rocking chair and you say you remember when surfing first entered the Olympic Games and I was there, I was one of the first to qualify, [it’s] one of those pinch-yourself moments,” she said.

Jessica Hull

While the world was in lockdown, Albion Park’s Jessica Hull took a chance, chasing her long-distance dreams in Europe, the United States, and Qatar.

It restarted her pathway to Tokyo with three Australian records.

In January 2020 in Boston, she set the new national record in the 1,500 metres, winning at the Reggie Lewis Track in 4:04:14

She followed it up in August with another national title, this time the 5,000 metres in Monaco with a time of 14:43:30.

Next came the 3,000 metres record in Doha, locking up the three titles in the space of 43 days.

Hull said she pushed herself to new levels in all races.

“I had never experienced that kind of pain before,” she said.

“It was really important in this season learning to be comfortable being extremely uncomfortable.

Hull also used the time to increase her strength in the gruelling events.

“The bar has just raised a little bit higher. I have 12 more months of training behind me, 12 more months of experience, so let’s not just make the final, let’s make the final and make a difference.”

She knows she needs to break the four-minute barrier to be in contention for the finals for the 1,500 metres.

“I know that to be in the final of the 1,500 I have to be in that kind of shape,” she said.

Albion Park Little Athletics and Kembla Grange Joggers were the foundations of her career.

“I think I was lucky I was always coached by my Dad, so it has always had quite a family feel to it. But the biggest thing that he was all about was me enjoying it,” Hull said.

She is incredibly grateful for the support of her family and fiancé, and knows while they would not be in the stadium at Tokyo, she would be carrying them in her heart.

Kaarle McCulloch

For cyclist Kaarle McCulloch, who hails from Wilton, the year of delay was a blessing in disguise.

“I have been battling a back injury since November 2019 so I have actually been able to go away and really work on the rehabilitation of my back,” she said.

McCulloch has overcome additional setbacks after her teammate’s decision to retire when the Games were delayed.

“My event has actually changed due to my teammate Stephanie Morton retiring at the end of last year,” she said.

“I was training explicitly for an event against the clock — which you don’t really need international exposure for — but now my event has changed to the kieran and the sprint where I am out there with six other girls in the track battling to get to the finish line.

“I don’t begrudge her (Stephanie Morton) decision. It has been a really hostile and uncertain time, and I know that she was looking forward to starting her life post sport.

“I think that she has made the right decision for herself and for me.”

McCulloch’s training has been intense and difficult during the pandemic.

“We do four track sessions a week which are about three hours long. We are going at speeds of up to 80 kilometres an hour on the track,” she said.

“We are squatting 150 kilos, deadlifting about the same, and then amongst all of that we are out on the road for about an hour or so a day.”

McCulloch said she was looking forward to the conditions in Tokyo velodrome at an altitude of about 600 metres.

“It is not only a little bit high and a little bit hot and humid, they are just the perfect conditions for track cycling, so we are expecting to see world records fall,” she said.

“Obviously I would like to be one of those people who hold world records.

McCulloch also knows what it is like to stand on the medals podium, and it certainly feels like the stars are aligning for her again in Tokyo.

“I won bronze in London, I was P reserve in Rio, so who knows what I can do in Tokyo. Maybe there will be something special,” she said.

McCulloch said she hoped the Games would help showcase the resilience the world has built through the hardship of the pandemic.

“I think we all, collectively as a human race, have gone through something pretty difficult times over the last nearly-16 months, and now together we can pull through,” she said.

“I have realised over time it is not just about winning, it is doing what you can do to your best potential. So making an Olympic team is an amazing achievement.

“If you have done the best that you can that is all that matters. That is the definition of the Olympic spirit.”