Casting aside the frustration of missing the Tokyo Olympics, left to contemplate where her future lay, Chelsea Gubecka has declared she had no intention of Paris being her last foray on the big stage.
The Brisbane-based open water swimmer was revealed on Thursday as Australia’s first Olympian selected to fight for gold in 2024 Games, fresh off her silver and bronze medal exploits at the World Aquatic Championships in July.
Chelsea Gubecka of Australia celebrates after winning the silver medal in the 10km Women Final during the 20th World Aquatics Championships.Credit: Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Those efforts followed her 2022 FINA Marathon World Series win in Israel, where she defeated Tokyo gold medallist Ana Marcela Cunha.
It is a moment Gubecka admits she felt may have never eventuated, having debuted in the Olympics at Rio 2016, before relinquishing her place to Kareena Lee.
Now, with a rediscovered passion for competing at the highest level, the 25-year-old was adamant she had struck the right life balance to make an impact in Paris.
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“I think the main turn factor for me was Tokyo. At that point, I didn’t really know what the future looked like,” Gubecka said.
“But with the group that I have now and certainly that’s where I credit my fiance and his family – they supported me no matter what and let me make the decisions I wanted to make.
“From there, I came back in 2022 with a bit of a fresh mind and started building up from there into my first win [at the World Series].
“I’m just super happy and really grounded, I think that makes a really big difference in my performances now.
“The goal was to get that Olympic quota spot, so I’m very proud to have done that, and I have full confidence in my team that we’ll be able to get the work done and do something special next year.”
Chelsea Gubecka is presented with a ticket to Paris 2024 by Chef de Mission Anna Meares after being the first athlete selected for the Paris Olympics.Credit: Getty
Concerns had been raised over the quality of water in the Seine River, where the Paris open water swim will take place, with severe pollution raising alarm bells over athlete safety.
However, Gubecka said she did not “have too much concern” about whether the event would be deemed safe enough to go ahead, noting that a few weeks after she was unable to swim there earlier in the year the water quality was “back to normal”.
Australian Olympic Committee chef de mission Anna Meares confirmed athlete selections would “snowball” between now and the final team selection in June next year but Gubecka is not identifying Paris as her last hurrah.
Growing up on the Sunshine Coast before moving to Brisbane, the desire to feature in one final Olympics in home waters come Brisbane 2032 is a tantalising prospect.
While at that stage she would be 34, Gubecka has refused to rule out a potential swan song in nine years time.
“I’m not too sure at this stage, we’re only looking to Paris at the moment, but I’m very happy doing what I’m doing, and I certainly have the support to continue if I’d like to,” Gubecka said.
“It’s a bit more a question of how the body holds up, it’s a long way to swim.
“It certainly gives me an itch to potentially stick around long enough and potentially be a part of it, but of course if I’m not certainly in the mix of it I definitely want to be around the sport.”
