‘I missed you’: Touching scenes as Olympians welcomed home

Australian Olympians have returned home after smashing the country’s record for the most gold medals won. The Qantas choir rang out as the Olympians stepped off the plane to a massive crowd of adoring family friends at Sydney Airport on Wednesday morning. Kaylee McKeown told the Today Show her achievements haven’t sunk in yet as she stepped off the plane. “Definitely not. There’s definitely pinch me moments and being presented the flag, there was definitely one of those moments I’ll cherish for the rest of my life,” she said. Her brothers Lachlan and Bailey Carter were there to give her warm hugs, sporting sparkly gold dresses and Australian scarfs while waiting for their sister. The pair crowd-funded their way to the Olympics to support their sister, having taken to social media to enlist help to get them there. “We’re very proud of what she’s accomplished … we’re proud of everyone, but Kaylee, she’s done amazing,” Bailey Carter said before the plane doors opened. “If you combine her last two Olympics, she’s medalled in every event she’s done, so she’s a legend of the sport. And yeah, super proud of her, and just stoked to have her back on home soil now.” BMX gold medallist Saya Sakakibara said she “can’t get that smile off (her) face”. “I’m just so grateful that with this gold medal I can inspire the next generation of boys and girls in BMX racing,” she said. “I’m just so grateful, can’t get this smile off my face … this feels amazing.” Emma McKeon, the most decorated Australian in Olympic history, said she’s been looking forward to touching down in Australia, calling it a special moment. “I guess it’s just everything you train for and everything you work hard for,” she said. “And I guess all the support that we’ve got around us as well, it’s just as much their medal, so I think it’s just coming home and seeing this and having my special people here and all that, it’s just it makes it all worth it.” Her younger sister, Caitlin, earlier told the Today Show it’s “overwhelming” but “special” hearing about her sister’s achievements. “I guess it’s pretty overwhelming, but it’s so special to know that she’s worked so hard for so many years and has been able to achieve what she has,” Ms McKeon said. “And then just to hear, I guess, statements like that, it’s like, ‘Wow, that’s actually my big sister that’s done all that.” She added there was “such a buzz” at the airport while waiting for McKeon to arrive. Her message to her sister was: “Welcome home, I missed you”. Australia’s youngest ever gold medallist Arisa Trew, who snatched up a skateboarding medal, said the flight back was “fun”, and that she slept and talked with her friends the entire time. “Me and my friends are like looking through the window and we’re like ‘There’s a lot of people down there’,” she said. She added she will be in Sydney for a little before heading back to the Gold Coast. “(I will) go to school tomorrow and just have fun and skate,” she said. Noemie Fox said it was really special sharing the Olympic experience with her sister, Jess. “I think it’s going to take me a long time to kind of come down from my little bubble, but it’s amazing to be here,” she said. “We did the 2004 and 2008 welcome home, and I still have my book of signatures of all these Olympic athletes. And now to think that this is me and this is us, and we’re doing it together, it’s crazy.” Jess added she had “no idea” how big the support from Australia was going to be during the Games. “The number of people who were getting up in the middle of the night, setting alarms to watch our races, the messages of support, the kids dressing up in schools, the communities,” she said. “I think we had no idea just how big it would be. And after Tokyo, the games that were a little bit restricted, to be able to do it in this way, come home in this way and then get back out there in the communities will be so special.” Cameron McEvoy, who won gold in the men’s 50m freestyle said it was nice to step off a massive flight to “this type of reception”, and added he hasn’t fully grasped his win yet. “Every two or three hours, I’d turn to whoever was near me and just go ‘I just won Olympic gold’,” he said. “It still comes in waves. You kind of forget, and you do normal stuff, and then it just hits you again. So I think once I’m back here and settled down, it’ll really hit like a train.” He also said he has his fingers crossed for the Los Angeles Olympics. “Father Time I think has a little bit more in store for me in the sport, if things go well,” he said. “So I have my fingers crossed for that … I’ve got the Olympic gold, I can go into LA now with the mindset of title defence.” Boxer Harry Garside, whose two-year dream of winning gold at the Olympics was ripped from his hands after he lost the men’s 63.5kg class, said he’s “grateful to be home”. “I just got off the plane, we’re all very tired. But to walk into this, it’s amazing and just really showing the Australian spirit,” he said. “So a massive thank you to everyone for coming out and throughout the last two weeks, the support back home has been amazing.” He said he will unpack the Olympics over the next few weeks. “Obviously it wasn’t the campaign that I wanted, but to come home now, I think the next few weeks will sort of slowly but surely start unpacking what happened and what went well, what didn’t go well,” he said. “And I can really start re-evaluating what’s next, but just grateful right now to be home and enjoying this and enjoying the Olympic spirit.” The family of swimmer Ariarne Titmus, who won two gold and two silver medals in Paris, said they were excited to see her hit “home soil” after eight weeks away. “We’re massively proud of not just what she did in the pool, but how she behaved out of the pool as well,” her parents told the Today Show. “She’s a wonderful young woman, and she’s become a lady who we are just enormously inspired by.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also made an appearance, telling the Today Show it is a “proud day”. “I mean, not every athlete who gets off that plane is bringing home a medal, but every single one of them is worth their weight in gold,” he said. “They have just done Australia proud and they’ve done their best. Whether they’ve won gold, silver, bronze or just put in a performance, they’ve all done us proud.” Mr Albanese added watching the Olympics “just lifted the whole country up”. “It was full of joy. I mean, the moment where, you know, Jess Fox and the whole family jump in because Naomi has won gold — how good is that?” he said. “You can’t you can’t make that up. That moment of the two sisters bringing home three gold between them.” He also said sport is a “unifying factor” as conflicts continue across the globe. “At a time when there’s so much conflict in the world, the world coming together, celebrating everyone as individuals is a good thing as well,” he said. “When you look at what’s going on in the Middle East and in Russia and Ukraine and so many parts of the world, sport is a unifying factor that can be really important.”