Olympic gold medalist backstroker McKeown is out of Commonwealth Games with glandular fever

SYDNEY (AP) - Five-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Kaylee McKeown is out of the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacific Championships which follow due to glandular fever.

The star backstroker won both the 100- and 200-meter distances at the Tokyo Olympics and repeated the feat at the Paris Games in 2024. She also won both events at the world championships in Singapore last year.

"I am gutted to medically withdraw," McKeown said in a Swimming Australia statement Friday. "What I thought a few months ago was flu has turned out to be my body fighting glandular fever.

"I was sick going into trials and I have just not got better and I am worried about pushing myself so hard that I end up with chronic fatigue. It was a hard decision to make but the right one."

The 24-year-old McKeown is planning to swim at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23 to Aug. 2, with the six-day swimming event starting July 24.

The Pan Pacific Championships are scheduled for Aug. 12-15 near Los Angeles after an eight-year hiatus. The 2022 edition was not held because of disruptions to the international swimming calendar caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.