FILE PHOTO: Swimming - World Aquatics Championships - Aspire Dome, Doha, Qatar - February 17, 2024 Silver medallists Australia's Kai James Taylor, Jack Cartwright, Shayna Jack and Brianna Throssell celebrate during the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay final medal ceremony REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australian swimmer Kai Taylor will hope to leave Paris with an Olympic medal or two to add to the family trophy cabinet already crammed with his mother Hayley Lewis's prizes.
Lewis became a household name in Australia when she won five swimming gold medals at the 1990 Commonwealth Games as a 15-year-old.
The Queenslander went on to win Olympic medals in the 400 and 800 metres freestyle at the 1992 Barcelona Games, along with six world championship medals in events ranging from the 200 freestyle to the 5km open water.
Thirty-two years on, Lewis will be in the stands at La Defense Arena in Paris roaring on her 20-year-old son, who is set to compete in the freestyle relay events in a powerful Australian team.
Surrounded by elite coaches and teammates in a pre-Games camp in France, Taylor has plenty of support to lean on but he said it was hard being away from his champion mother and that he had been in touch with her every day.
"She hasn't given me any advice -- she's just really proud of me and wants me to go out there and do my best," he said.
"She's coming over to watch and I can't wait to see her in the stands and I know she'll be cheering hard."
Taylor already has big-event experience.
He won the 4x100 freestyle relay world title at Fukuoka last year while grabbing bronzes in the 200 relay and 4x100 medley relay events.
Three years after taking bronze at Tokyo, Australia fancy their chances in the 200 relay, an event the nation has not won since the 2000 Sydney Olympics when Ian Thorpe and Michael Klim were in their pomp.
Taylor will likely combine with Fukuoka teammates Zac Incerti, Thomas Neill and Elijah Winnington in Paris as they look to upset Olympic champions Britain and a strong United States outfit.
"Being in a relay with those boys is just amazing. And I can't wait to get up and represent Australia," he said.
"Just to get into that relay means you have a real shot at getting a medal. And I feel like we've got such a rich history."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
