Australian News Today

Aussie athlete fumes over ticket change and absurd prices for Paris Olympics

Aussie athlete fumes over ticket change and absurd prices for Paris Olympics

Australian water polo player Matilda Kearns has been left fuming over a big change coming to the Paris Olympics.

In a post to her TikTok account, Kearns showed off the absurd prices for the upcoming Games that are set to hit fans.

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Kearns showed off her laptop looking at tickets to one event showing a seat in the stands would set fans back a whopping $1625 AUD.

But Kearns’ major issue, outside of the staggering price of tickets, was the fact Australian athletes weren’t being given a free ticket for a family member or friend.

“We don’t even get ONE free ticket for our families,” she captioned the post.

In an overlay on the video she wrote: “POV our family and friends will have to pay up to $1625 per ticket to watch just ONE of our games at the Olympics.”

In response to a comment on her post, Kearns stated that Paris will be the first Games where athletes have not been granted free tickets.

“Every other Olympics has, but not this one for some reason! Not even ONE ticket,” she wrote.

McKeown and Giuliani star during night 2 | 01:57

The Paris Games begin on July 26 with Australia’s swim stars battling it out to book their spot in the team.

Backstroke queen Kaylee McKeown gave her own 100m backstroke world record a scare on the second night of the Australian swimming trials.

McKeown seems to be breaking records every time she dives in the pool and she was just 0.08 off her own world mark, touching the wall in 57.41sec.

It’s the second fastest 100m backstroke time ever. McKeown now owns the seven fastest times in the history of the event.

The 22-year-old will get the chance to defend her Olympic title in the event in what shapes as a packed Paris program after she broke her own national record on Monday to also qualify in the 200m medley.

McKeown said based off her performance in training, she was hoping to go faster.

“I’m not gonna lie I was a bit disappointed with that,” McKeown told Channel 9.

“There is always room for improvement.

“My training has shown otherwise but booked the ticket to Paris, so that’s just a chance to go faster.

“It’s so hard when people ask (for my) goal time. For me, it’s not necessarily a goal time, it’s the execution for the time. I was happy with it, I’ll see what the coach says.”

Kaylee set the pool on fire on Tuesday. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

Mollie O’Callaghan finished second in a personal best of 57.88, becoming just the fourth woman to join the exclusive sub-58 club in the 100m backstroke.

“That really hurt to be honest,” O’Callaghan said.

“To touch in a 57.8 is just amazing and I wasn’t expecting that, so I’m happy with the result.

“Definitely nervous for (the Olympics) but this is a great way to set it off.

“I’m happy with anything to be honest, 100m backstroke is a fun event for me

“I don’t really train for it. To go out there and do a 57 is just amazing. I put a lot of pressure on myself regardless of whether it’s a main event or not.”

O’Callaghan is expected to qualify in the 100m and 200m freestyle and said it’s too early to say if she will swim the 100m backstroke in Paris because of a schedule clash.

“I don’t really know yet,” she said.

“It depends on whether I qualify for the next two events. We’re taking it day by day and we’ll decide at the end of the meet.”