Karl Stefanovic was left amused after Kaylee McKeown swore during a live interview after winning gold in a thrilling 100m backstroke final at the Paris Olympics.
Ellie Cole was interviewing McKeown for Channel Nine’s Today show following her win on Tuesday and asked her whether she had a message for her family.
‘Do you have a message to [your family] for the support they’ve offered you over the last three years?’ she asked.
McKeown responded: ‘No words can really amount to how much I appreciate their support. They deal with a lot of s**t so thank you for all of that.’
After airing the interview, Karl informed young viewers that McKeown was allowed to swear because she had won a gold medal.
‘She said sh*t. To all the kids out there watching before school this morning, hey, you know what? She’s won a gold medal, she can say whatever she pleases,’ he joked.
McKeown is just the second woman to win consecutive 100m backstroke gold medals in Olympic history, following American Natalie Coughlin in 2004 and 2008.
After the victory she also paid tribute to her dad Sholto, who died of brain cancer in 2020.
Karl Stefanovic was left amused after Kaylee McKeown swore during a live interview after winning gold again in a thrilling 100m backstroke final at the Paris Olympics
‘I like to think I have a little superpower and that’s my dad,’ McKeown said.
‘I believe he was with me tonight, so I’m over the moon.’
Asked what her father would say to her if he’d been able to watch the win, McKeown – who famously dropped the F-bomb on live TV after a win at the Tokyo Olympics – replied, ‘I’m not going to swear … he’d be extremely proud.
‘It’s great to have my family here because I know that he’s here in spirit.’
The Queenslander collected gold in both the 100m and 200m backstroke events at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
Ellie Cole was interviewing Kaylee following her win and asked her whether she had a message for her family. ‘No words can really amount to how much I appreciate their support. They deal with a lot of s**t so thank you for all of that,’ she responded
She will begin the defence of her 200m crown on Thursday with heats and semi-finals ahead of Friday’s medal race.
McKeown has also added the 200m individual medley to her Paris program, with the final of that event on Saturday.
She now has four gold medals in her Olympic career after also featuring in Australia’s triumphant women’s 4×100 medley team in Tokyo.
She is also likely to feature in Australia’s team in the medley final to be decided on Sunday’s last day of competition at the Paris pool.
McKeown is just the second woman to win consecutive 100m backstroke gold medals in Olympic history, following American Natalie Coughlin in 2004 and 2008
