Trio Complete An Historic Australian Olympic Marathon Swim Team For Paris 2024
For the first time in Olympic history four Australians will swim for gold in the 10km marathon at this year’s 2024 Paris Games.
Australia will send a full team of four athletes, with Queensland pair Moesha Johnson, and Nicholas Sloman and Western Australian Kyle Lee announced today to make their Olympic debuts on the River Seine
The trio will join 2023 World Championships silver medallist Chelsea Gubecka, the first athlete selected for the Australian Olympic Team for Paris last year, with Australia matching hosts France as the only two countries to secure all four marathon swimming quota positions for the Paris Olympics.
FRENCH CONNECTION: Moesha Johnson, Nick Sloman, Kyle Lee, Chelsea Gubecka. Photo Delly Carr (Swimmming Australia)
The four athletes will contest the 10km marathon swim in the iconic River Seine, 124 years after Olympic swimming was held in the river at the Paris 1900 Olympics, where Sydney’s Freddie Lane won double gold – Australia’s first Olympic swimming medals.
Australian head coach Rohan Taylor knows he has a team capable of matching it with the best in the world as the foursome set their sights on winning Australia’s first marathon gold since the event made its Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008.
Of the four Olympics, Australia has won one bronze medal to Kareena Lee in Tokyo in 2021 a helter skelter race to the podium that invariably comes down to a photo finish.
“To have the Dolphins join the likes of France as the only countries to have the full complement in Paris just shows how far we’ve come and the success of our Open Water program,” said Taylor.
“I am so thrilled for Moe, Nick and Kyle who have worked so hard from all corners of Australia – and the world – to make their Olympic dream come true. There is now a maturity to our group (with Chelsea) that has turned potential into opportunity.
“They’ve refined their craft and really grown as a group. Like the entire Dolphins team, these four are really about making each other better and I can’t wait to see what they do in Paris.”
The swimmers announced today by the Australian Olympic Committee qualified Olympic quotas for Australia at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, with Johnson narrowly missing the women’s podium in fourth, while Sloman and Lee finished the men’s event in fifth and ninth respectively.
With only a handful of international 10km races under her belt, pool-convert Johnson has already shown she is a force to be reckoned with on the international open water circuit. Sloman is a five-time National champion and six-time medallist on the World Cup stage, while Lee showed his competitive instincts out-touching Italy to win gold for Australia as the anchor leg of the mixed 4x1500m relay at February’s World Championships.
Gold Coast local Johnson will join fellow Queenslander Gubecka on the River Seine, the first time Australia will field two female competitors since its inclusion in the Olympic Games in 2008.
The 26-year-old said she couldn’t believe she was going to be competing at her first Olympic Games in Paris.
“It wasn’t until I said to my mum, I am getting a QANTAS ticket to Paris, that it actually started to feel real,” Johnson said. “Open water swimming is such a humbling sport, and the environment is always different. There are so many tactics, and it really does challenge you.”
PODIUM POOSE: Australia’s memorable gold medal winning World Championship relay team Kyle Lee, Nic Sloman, Chelsea Gubecka, and Moesha Johnson at the Doha World’s.Paris awaits. Photo Courtesy World Aquatics.
“I just can’t wait to represent the Dolphins, but also to experience The Village, be amongst other Aussie athletes and be a part of that camaraderie and Aussie pride.”
Sloman said today’s selection is the realisation of an 11-year goal in the making.
“It’s still sinking in that I have been selected to the Australian Olympic Team,” Sloman said, “I am so honoured.”
“To get this boarding pass to Paris, it’s really for the people like my coach John Rodgers who stood by me and my teammates who continued to push me. I just want to thank so many people. It was not an easy road, but so worthwhile.”
Rising star Lee, the 22-year-old Western Australian, reflected on the special moment the teammates shared in Doha.
“When Nick and I finished that 10km race in Doha, we were counting the number of guys around us in the water and it was really special to share that moment with him,” Kyle said.
“It’s just so special that as a team we have filled the four quota spots. The whole program has worked so hard, we’re all pretty excited and just generally thrilled at how open water swimming has grown so much.”
Australian Olympic Team Chef de Mission Anna Meares congratulated the athletes on their selection, saying: “To be selected to your first Olympic Team is a special moment and a testament to the years of hard work and perseverance you have each dedicated to your sport.
“Qualifying the full complement of four athletes to the Olympic Games for the first time is a great achievement. It is a great reflection on the four athletes, but also the highlights the incredible depth of talent we have here in Australia and the strength of the Dolphins’ program.
“To the athletes’ families, friends and supporters, and the team at Swimming Australia, thank you for the important role you have played in their Olympic journeys.”
Australian Marathon Swimming Team
2024 Paris Olympic Games
Men:
Nick Sloman (Noosa, QLD; Coach John Rodgers)
Kyle Lee (North Coast, WA; Coach Ian Mills)
Women:
Moesha Johnson (Griffith University, QLD; Coaches Bernd Berkhahn, Michael Bohl, Janelle Pallister)
Chelsea Gubecka (Yeronga Park, QLD; Coach Kate Sparkes)