At just 19, Mollie O’Callaghan—affectionately known as Mollie O—is a name Australia is quickly recognizing as a member of the country’s latest group of swimming golden girls of the pool.
Olympic champions Emma McKeon, Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown, the Campbell sisters, Cate and Bronte—and Mollie O’Callaghan, along with Shayna Jack—have catapulted Australia’s women to the top of the world.
Mollie O, as she is affectionately known, is the baby of the group who has been on a trajectory toward swimming greatness since her mum, Toni, launched a fund-raising appeal to send her daughter to Melbourne for the Australian Schools Championships in 2014.
Mollie was just 10 years old and attending Greenbank State School, located in a small working class rural residential suburb in the City of Logan, 40 kilometers (a little less than 25 miles) southwest of Brisbane.
The O’Callaghan family had to raise $5,000 to get their budding young Mollie to nationals after being selected on the Queensland team—a lot of money for any family.
But the community dug deep and got young Mollie her first Queensland tracksuit and her first proper racing suit.
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Photo Courtesy of Wade Brennan
