How does Seebohm rate her chances of making the team for Paris?
“It’s tough, but it’s not undoable,” Seebohm said. “It’s super tough because we have so much depth here in Australian swimming. It’s just a matter of going from here to another eight weeks of training. I’m trying to make those little improvements.”
Seebohm is competing this week at the Australian Open Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast.
Emily Seebohm with her partner Ryan and son Sampson. Credit: Delly Carr
As the heats rolled through in the women’s 100m backstroke on Thursday morning, the country’s top swimmers exited the pool and grabbed their accreditation before making a beeline to their coaches.
The first person Seebohm wanted to see was Sampson. Her husband, Ryan, is helping as much as possible, as well as family and friends.
Seebohm says having Sampson at the training pool became too much of a distraction, but he is already becoming popular in Australian swimming circles.
“A lot of the timekeepers and officials and Swimming Australia staff have taken him and walked him around,” Seebohm said. “For him to be around and enjoying the environment is special.
“The hardest part early on was leaving Sampson. The times [that] I brought him to training I found that I wouldn’t be connected to the swimming. I’d be too focused on what he was doing and making sure he was okay.”
Almost three years ago, at the Tokyo Olympics, Seebohm won a bronze medal in the 200m backstroke and was asked to present the gold medal to her Australian teammate Kaylee McKeown.
Bronze medalist Emily Seebohm and gold medalist Kaylee McKeown celebrate after the 200-metre backstroke final. Credit: Getty
The pair stood together atop the medal dais as they sang Advance Australia Fair behind facemasks.
At that moment, Seebohm was content knowing that her swimming career was probably over, having claimed 46 medals across Olympic, World Championship and Commonwealth Games campaigns.
That was until she fell pregnant.
“When I was carrying Sampson it shifted,” Seebohm said. “I missed pushing myself at that top level of training. It spurred me to give it a little bit more. I decided before he was born that I was going to come back.
Lisa Curry and her daughter Jaimi.Credit: Palani Mohan
“There’s been some big stars that have been able to do it. Seeing the Matildas players with their kids on the field was super special.
“People like [tennis players] Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams … those athletes are breaking the barrier of being able to come back into elite sport after motherhood.”
Six weeks after giving birth, Seebohm reacquainted herself with the black line of a swimming pool.
Then came the dislocated knee at a dog park.
Seebohm was with her dog when, all of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in her knee. A rogue labradoodle had crashed into her leg.
Seebohm also dislocated her knee while riding a horse just before the 2015 world championships. She won three gold medals at that competition in Kazan.
“Yeah, it wasn’t ideal,” Seebohm said of the recent setback. “I was on crutches with a newborn and our bedroom is upstairs.”
Seebohm was able to recover and began resuming the 5.15am wake-ups, where she would also have to use a breast pump, before heading to the pool.
By the time Sampson was 14 weeks old, Seebohm’s intensity at training had ramped up.
Australia’s Olympic trials take place from June 10 to 15 in Brisbane and Seebohm’s best chance of making the Dolphins team will be in either the 100m or 200m backstroke events.
McKeown is the world record holder in both, meaning it is likely there will be just one spot left for Seebohm to try and make hers.
Emily Seebohm looks on ahead of the women’s 100m backstroke final during the 2024 Australian Open Swimming Championships. Credit: Getty
Seebohm finished fifth this week in the 100m backstroke in a time of 1:01.21. Her personal best is 58.23, set at the 2012 London Olympics.
Australia’s Olympic qualifying time for the women’s 100m backstroke is 59.62 seconds.
However, Seebohm did not reduce her training loads for this week’s meet on the Gold Coast, meaning she is likely to go faster at trials.
If Seebohm does make the Australian team, she has permission to bring Sampson and other family members along with her for support.
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Although the swimming finals in Paris start late – at 8.30pm local time – Seebohm might allow Sampson a late night if his mum can make another Olympic final.
“I just love the pain and the torture,” Seebohm said with a laugh. “Hopefully getting my family there as well would be like a massive thing.”
She also has a message for other mothers wanting to get back into sport.
“It’s being able to have longevity and for others to feel like you don’t have to reach a certain age and say you’re too old for it,” Seebohm said. “I’m doing it because I love it.”
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