It was a moment Mollie O’Callaghan had dreamed about for years. At the Tokyo Olympics, just 17, the Australian had been a member of three medal-winning relays, but as a heat swimmer she did not have the opportunity to stand on the podium.
On Saturday night, as a key part of Australia’s gold-medal winning women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, O’Callaghan finally stood on the Olympic podium with her team-mates. Then, on Monday night in Paris, O’Callaghan stood alone on the top step – having won her first individual Olympic gold medal with a scintillating victory in the 200m freestyle.
