Alex de Minaur’s Olympic journey may be over, but the Australian tennis star stayed in Paris to cheer on his countrymen.
And the 25-year-old, along with coach and Australian tennis legend Lleyton Hewitt, went absolutely wild as they watched Kaylee McKeown become a back-to-back Olympic champion in Paris.
De Minaur and Hewitt formed an Australian contingent that cheered on McKeown and teammate Iona Anderson on Tuesday night (local time), with the gun duo competing in a strong field that included Team USA world record holder Regan Smith.
It wasn’t to be for Anderson, but McKeown kept her cool in a closely contested race to touch the wall ahead of her American rival and add to her collection of three gold medals.
After showing McKeown slapping the surface of the water in jubilation, the camera panned to De Minaur and Hewitt in the crowd, both going wild.
De Minaur withdrew from the men’s singles competition in Paris, citing a hip injury he sustained during his participation at Wimbledon this month.
He competed in the men’s doubles alongside his childhood friend Alexei Popyrin, but the pair were eliminated in the first round.
De Minaur’s tennis star girlfriend Katie Boulter was in action earlier on Tuesday, winning her women’s doubles match against Germany alongside Heather Watson.
Lleyton Hewitt and Alex de Minaur went crazy after Kaylee McKeown’s big win
The Australian won back-to-back Olympic gold medals in France on Tuesday night.
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McKeown is only the second woman to win back-to-back 100-meter backstroke gold medals in Olympic history, after American Natalie Coughlin (2004, 2008).
The Queensland athlete won gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
She will begin the defence of her 200m crown on Thursday with heats and semi-finals before Friday’s medal race.
McKeown has also added the 200m individual medley to her Paris programme, the final of which will be held on Saturday.
McKeown now has four gold medals in her Olympic career having also featured on the triumphant Australian women’s 4×100 medley team in Tokyo.
She is also likely to be part of Australia’s team for the combined final, which will be decided on Sunday, the final day of competition in the Paris pool.
