Precious Medal Check For Kaylee McKeown As Airport Security Stops Golden Girl In Her Tracks

FULL MEDAL CHECK: Kaylee McKeown secure in the middle of this group of JX Swim Squad Members at the Woree Sports And Aquatic Centre. Photo Courtesy Brendan Radke (Cairns Post).

Kaylee McKeown is slowly but surely getting used to the attention that comes with being a triple Olympic swimming gold medallist in Australia – but there are some things that still come from a left field.

Like when you arrive at an airport and the metal detector goes off and a stern-faced security guard is alerted to an object in your carry on.

Jitte Ganzevles, Kai Travers-Mason, Rylee Whitby, Natalie Beck JX 12-13

RARE GOLD: Members of the JX 12-13 Group (From Left) Jitte Ganzevles, Kai Travers-Mason, Rylee Whitby (with the gold medal) and Natalie Beck, Photo Courtesy: FNQ Swimming.

Such was the case when McKeown joined the passengers for a flight from Brisbane to Cairns last weekend to attend a Swim Clinic for sponsor Speedo and was pulled up by the guard.

“You do get pulled up at the airport (I know) – (but) this morning they actually pulled me aside and were like ‘oh, what’s this?’ McKeown told the Cairns Post. “I was like ‘oh, it’s a medal’, and they’re like ‘we’re going to have to take it out’.

“It’s fortunate I only brought the one with me otherwise I might have been at the airport a bit longer.”

And surprise, surprise…no ordinary medal – just happened to be one of the three Olympic golds Kaylee won in a spectacular Tokyo fashion – taking out the 100 and 200m backstroke and the 4x100m medley relay with Chelsea Hodges, Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell.

Just another day in what has been quite the year for McKeown with the 20-year-old revealing this week that she produced the swims of her life swimming in pain in Tokyo after tearing the labrum muscle in her left shoulder on the eve of the Games.

Aussie Olympic Golden Girl Kaylee McKeown Makes Stunning Revelation: ‘I Swam Through Tokyo With A Torn Shoulder’

The flight already delayed, McKeown hit the ground running when she eventually arrived in the Far North Queensland gateway where she and her fellow Dolphins spent three weeks in a pre-Games Staging Camp for Tokyo.

HEROES WELCOME: Members of the JX 12-13 years group in Cairns with Kaylee McKeown. Photo Courtesy: FNQ Swimming.

With a car waiting to pick up the golden girl and her precious cargo it was straight to the city’s Woree Sports And Aquatic Centre where over 60 local swimmers, including members of the FNQ High Performance Squad and Swimming Australia Junior Excellence squad members were anxiously awaiting their hero’s arrival.

”For the kids at Woree, we rarely get the opportunity to have stars at our pool and in our facility…as we had today with Kaylee so for us this is an incredible opportunity,” said Woree head coach Sander Ganzevles.

“It’s certainly an honour…because everyone has an incredibly busy training plan so for the kids around here its an inspiration, which is magnificent.

“The kids have learnt so much; they can feed off this for weeks maybe even months and will be something they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

And for McKeown it brought back memories of attending a similar clinic with her idol four-time Olympian Emily Seebohm – who shared a special moment with Kaylee in Tokyo, winning bronze behind the new golden girl.

”There is nothing better than attending these kinds of clinics through Speedo and especially to see the smiles on these kids faces,” McKeown told Swimming World.

HP squad with left right top row Jack Hendy, Ryan Woodward, Jessica Deane, Emily Taylor, Isabella Higginson, Marcus West, bottom Emilee Salecich, Aisling Rothwell, Rayner Ganfield

SHOW AND TELL: Kaylee McKwon shows off her gold medal to members of the FNQ HP Squad m(back row) Jack Hendy, Ryan Woodward, Jessica Deane, Emily Taylor, Isabella Higginson, Marcus West. Front Row: Emilee Salecich, Aisling Rothwell and Rayner Ganfield. Photo Courtesy: FNQ Swimming.

“They are just so welcoming to me and it’s a different feel up here (in the north). I think the kids are just so much more appreciative; they really take into consideration the hard work.

“It’s really nice to give them a taste of what its like down south a bit more where we take this stuff a little bit more for granted.

“When I was a kid I lived for these types of things – I always remember going to these kind of clinics, especially with Emily Seebohm and there was the photo that surfaced during the Games when we were both younger, you really look up to these guys and I hope I inspired the younger generation today…..”

McKeown said that swimming like any sports around Queensland, the kids throw themselves into it, especially up north where it’s hot as well, the kids love getting in the pool and not just from the competitive side but from the point of view of wanting to be safe around the water.

“There is nothing better than seeing the smiles on the kids faces and that for me is the biggest thing for me today,” said McKeown.

“To inspire them to go that little bit extra in the swimming world.

Sander Ganzevles and Franka Ganzevles, Cairns Stingrays coaches

MINE HOSTS: Woree Sports And Aquatic Centre coaches Sander and Franka Ganzevles with Kaylee McKeown in Cairns. Photo Courtesy: FNQ Swimming.

“I love Cairns, itself, it’s a beautiful place with the hot weather of course and it’s nice to give back…they offered their Aquatic centre to us and the least I can do is my little bit and give back to them…”

And while members of the FNQ High Performance Squad will be preparing for this month’s McDonald’s Queensland State Championships (Brisbane Aquatic Centre, December 11-17), McKeown will be spectating and cheering them on.

McKeown will spend the next four to six months kicking – unable to swim because of her shoulder injury.She expects to be swimming again in January as she plans a racing return in Sydney in the lead up to the World Championship Trials.

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