- Cameron McEvoy has given up endless laps in the pool before the Paris Games
- Strength training in the gym and rock climbing are part of his preparation.
- A bold decision paid off: Australia took gold in the 50m freestyle final
Australian Cameron McEvoy is officially an Olympic gold medallist after winning the 50m freestyle, and his radical preparation ahead of the Paris Games could change the way other athletes approach the sport.
Away from the pool, the 30-year-old astrophysicist has opted to replace endless laps with rock climbing and explosive work at his Gold Coast-based gym.
Gone was the slender figure normally seen in swimmers: McEvoy became all volume and power.
The bold move paid off as the Australian touched the wall in a stylish 21.25 seconds at the La Défense Arena ahead of Britain’s Ben Proud and local hope Florent Manaudou.
McEvoy thus conquered his demons from the Rio Games eight years ago, when he was the favourite to win the 100m freestyle but finished seventh in the final.
“I got the result I was looking for, but it’s hard to explain the process after the last two years and the path I took to get here,” he said after the race.
‘Winning the gold medal is just the tip of the iceberg.
‘That active creation over the last two years to start without many ideas, then develop something and see where it can go, with me as a guinea pig and see where it can take me.
Australian Cameron McEvoy is officially an Olympic gold medallist after winning the 50m freestyle, and his radical preparation ahead of the Paris Games could change the way other athletes approach their craft.
The Australian touched the wall in 21.25 seconds at the La Défense Arena ahead of Britain’s Ben Proud and local hope Florent Manaudou (right)
“That’s something I’ll find very difficult to replicate in my lifetime and something I’ll be proud of forever.”
Adding to his triumph in the City of Love is the fact that McEvoy took an extended break from swimming after the Tokyo Olympics three years ago when he became disillusioned with the sport.
“I was practically exhausted,” he told Channel Nine’s Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo.
‘After Tokyo I was determined to retire… I had no plans to return to this sport.
‘I ventured into rock climbing, I worked out a lot at the gym. I played a lot of other sports, anything that wasn’t swimming.
“The more I learned about what other sports disciplines had to offer, the more I wondered what this would look like in swimming. Then I became more and more interested in it.”
McEvoy joins Kaylee McKeown (women’s 100m and 200m backstroke), Ariarne Titmus (women’s 400m freestyle), the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, Mollie O’Callaghan (women’s 200m freestyle) and the women’s 4x200m freestyle team as Australian group winners in the French capital.
McEvoy also doesn’t rule out defending his title in Los Angeles in 2028 and, surprisingly, even Brisbane in eight years’ time is not out of the question.
“A home Games would be absolutely unreal. I’ll be 38 years old and there have been swimmers who have won world championships at that age,” he said.
‘Let’s see what Father Time has in store for me.’