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Emma McKeon in closing ceremony after all
Accepting Emma McKeons apology, AOC Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller is allowing her to attend the closing ceremony of the Rio olympics. Vision courtesy ABC News 24
Rio de Janeiro: A desperate handwritten two-page letter from Emma McKeon has convinced Australia's Olympic chef de mission Kitty Chiller to perform a stunning backflip to allow the swimmer to march in the closing ceremony.
Chiller held a late-night media conference outside the athletes' village to confirm an exclusive Fairfax Media story that sanctions placed on the four-time medallist here in Rio had been reversed.
McKeon had been banned from marching in the closing ceremony after she decided to stay in Copacabana with friends following a boozy night out with fellow swimmers on Tuesday. A strict curfew, though, forbidding her from leaving the village after 8pm, still applies.
After receiving the letter, Chiller invited McKeon to visit her at the modern pentathlon event at Deodoro, where peace was brokered.
"The tone and content of her letter, and her conversation with me, proved to me that she now very much understands the seriousness of our safety protocols," Chiller said. "She now understands the seriousness of her breach and how that placed her in jeopardy and all I was ever doing was trying to protect Emma and the 420 other athletes in our team."
On the surface, it looks like a dramatic change of heart from Chiller, who also banned swimmer Josh Palmer from attending the closing ceremony after he was supposedly held up at gunpoint on Copacabana and didn't return to the athletes' village until late on Wednesday.
"It's absolutely not a capitulation," Chiller said. "I haven't read any of the social media. I am aware of the criticism. Those people in Australia who have criticised this sanction are in Australia. They are not in Rio. Rio is a different city to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It's a dangerous city. And that night could've ended in tragedy for Emma."
Chiller said she had not received any words of contrition from Palmer.
"I've heard nothing from Josh Palmer," she said. "If he wants to [contact me] he can … Josh Palmer's indiscretions were in another ballpark to Emma's."
McKeon had been initially dumbfounded about her banning, tweeting earlier this week: "To clarify, I've followed AOC safety protocol in not travelling to village alone. My error was not texting my team manager. #noclosingforme."
Other teammates past and present have rallied around her and started their own hashtag campaign, much to the anger of Australian Olympic Committee officials.
"I think she needed a night to sleep on it," Chiller said. "She slept on it and realised the importance of the protocols we'd had in place. I one hundred percent believe her apology is genuine. I think she was in shock 24 hours ago. She was tired and emotional and after a good night's sleep and probably chatting to a few people she realised the seriousness of what she had done."
McKeon, who won four medals in the pool in Rio including a relay gold, failed to notify team officials that she was not returning to the athletes' village and staying with female swimming friends from Sweden on Tuesday night.
McKeon's reinstatement comes amid friction between the AOC and the swim team in Rio with anger at the perceived aloofness of the swimmers among Australia's other athletes here. Chiller was angry that posters of past Olympic champions such as Cathy Freeman and Herb Elliott had been removed from the entrance to the floors of the Australian swim section in the high-rise athletes' village and that others on which the AOC "One Team" mantra was displayed had been replaced by posters with the swimmers' "Our Team" logo.
Chiller and the AOC's head of security have been intent on trying to ensure the safety of the 400-plus team as well as staff and officials, banning them from the sand at Copa and Ipanema beaches at night and demanding that they travel as a group of three and never by foot in the evening.
The disciplining of McKeon and Palmer, who said he was forced to withdraw $1000 from an ATM and lost his wallet and phone after his night out, led to a curfew being placed on the pair. They were told they could not leave the village near the main Olympic Park at Barra de Tijuca between the hours of 8pm and 8am.
McKeon has won more medals at this Olympics than any other Australian. She won gold in the 4x100 metres women's freestyle relay team which set a new world record, silver in the 4x100m medley relay and 4x200m freestyle relay, and bronze in the 200m freestyle.