Emma McKeon has broken her silence about an awkward Melbourne Cup mishap in which she was left completely drenched in champagne.
The Australian swimming champion, 30, was left red-faced on Derby day at Flemington Racecourse when she got soaked while trying to do GH Mumm’s iconic ‘tap tap moment’.
She hit the three-liter bottle of jeroboam with a saber, only for the champagne to explode and completely soak her, instead of flying high into the air as expected.
Emma’s luxurious Christian Dior dress, which costs approximately $10,000, was covered in alcohol and she showed a shocked expression at the awkward mistake.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the Marie Claire’s Women of the Year Awards in Sydney on Wednesday, Emma broke her silence about the unexpected mishap.
Proving she has a sense of humor, the Olympic swimming champion hilariously poked fun at her drenching with a tongue-in-cheek line.
“I guess I’m used to being wet, so it’s different getting wet with champagne than with bleach,” she joked.
Walking the red carpet with boyfriend Cody Simpson, Emma also reflected on her success at the Paris 2024 Olympics and shared her only regret.
Emma McKeon has broken her silence over an awkward Melbourne Cup mishap in which she was left completely drenched in champagne.
While Emma took home gold for Australia in the 4×100 freestyle relay, she admitted she would have loved to have also competed in the individual freestyle final.
She narrowly missed qualifying for the race at the Olympic Trials, with Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack securing the two Australian positions.
Reflecting on the Games, Emma shared: “Paris hosted such a great Olympic Games, it’s such an iconic city, I really wanted to be a part of those Olympic Games.”
“I probably wanted to be part of that 100m freestyle final in the race itself, but to be part of that 4x100m relay, which has such a big history and is such a special relay for Australia.
“It’s kind of a relay to be a part of and that’s what raises the bar for us every year.” “I felt very honored and special to be a part of that.”
The swimming champion, 30, was left red-faced on Derby day when she got soaked while trying to do GH Mumm’s iconic ‘tap tap moment’ – and has now mocked the incident.
Emma also reflected on her success at the Paris 2024 Olympics and shared her only regret: she wishes she had qualified for the individual freestyle final.
Emma is now enjoying some downtime with her singer boyfriend Cody after the Olympics and said they are making the most of the time away from the “intensity”.
“We just had a three-week holiday in Europe so it was really nice to have the opportunity to unwind and take a break from the high intensity, it was really nice,” he said.
Emma and Cody went ‘Instagram official’ with their relationship in July 2022, three months after they began secretly dating.
Last year, the loved-up couple celebrated by purchasing their first home together.
The couple spent $1.826 million on a family home on the Gold Coast, showing their headline-making romance, which blossomed while training for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, has become more serious.
Her comments came while speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the Marie Claire’s Women of the Year Awards in Sydney on Wednesday, where she stepped out with boyfriend Cody Simpson.
Cody recently tried his hand at competitive swimming, but narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics, although he avidly supported Emma’s success.
Despite missing the freestyle final in Paris, Emma achieved great success at the Games and became Australia’s most decorated Olympian.
Emma won three Olympic medals at the Paris Games, taking home gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay, silver in the 4x100m medley relay and bronze in the 4x100m medley relay.
Her success means she has racked up 14 Olympic medals since 2016, bringing her Olympic career to an incredible end after she declared Paris would be her last.