By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
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Veteran sprinter Cameron McEvoy spoke to the media on Wednesday from the Aussie training camp in Chartres, France, the final stage before the squad goes to Paris for the Olympic Games.
McEvoy is headed to his fourth Olympics as the favorite to claim gold in the men’s 50 freestyle, owning the top seed by nearly two-tenths of a second and coming off winning the 2023 World Championship title in dominant fashion.
The 30-year-old touched on a number of topics in his 13-minute availability, including how his training is going in the lead-up to the Games, the impact having defending champion Caeleb Dressel in the field means to the 50 free, the Australian rivalry with the United States, and the opportunity he has to compete at another Olympics after some “unique experiences.”
McEvoy noted that he’s “swimming as fast as I ever have” in training, detailing a specific taper program he’s using that he first tried prior to the 2023 World Championships, where he dropped a time of 21.06—the fastest since Dressel went 21.04 at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials.
McEvoy was able to stay back in Australia longer than the rest of the Olympic team in order to follow his specific taper program, for which he expressed immense gratitude to the team staff.
“The flexibility that Rohan (Taylor) and the swim team gave me to stay back in Australia for a little bit longer—for me, that two, two and a half, three-week period was the most important period of my entire prep,” McEvoy said.
“It’s kind of the glue that puts the rest of the 11 months prior to that together. And the results that I was able to put on the board in training in that period suggests that it was the perfect move.”
McEvoy said he arrived a week before the team went from Canet to Chartres, which was on July 13.
McEvoy repeatedly used the word “privilege” when discussing his opportunity to race at a fourth Olympics, giving him the chance to “rewrite my relationship with the Olympics.”
McEvoy has three Olympic bronze medals to his name, all from relays, but is perhaps best remembered at the Games for missing the men’s 100 free podium in Rio after he swam the fastest textile time in history (47.04) at the Olympic Trials.
“I didn’t think I would be on the team again at an Olympics, let alone with the chance to potentially get my hand on the wall first or to get a medal,” he said.
“It’s something that I can’t take for granted, but also something where I definitely need to take a step back and just appreciate the opportunity to relate to the Olympic experience on a new level, in a different context, and to walk away really proud of everything I’ve done.”
Watch his full media availability below:
Courtesy of Swimming Australia
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Cameron McEvoy Grateful For “Opportunity To Rewrite My Relationship With The Olympics”