Cam McEvoy details his journey back to the top after arriving home as an Olympic champion

Cameron McEvoy wore his gold medal proudly on Wednesday morning when he and his fellow Aussies landed in Sydney to a hero’s welcome.

The champion swimmer was happy to share his story of redemption with everyone hopeful but unclear about what the future holds.

With his career “at a crossroads”, McEvoy had two choices.

The easy option was to call time on his swimming career after heartbreak at three Olympics, with the pain of the 100m freestyle in Rio likely to define him in some people’s eyes.

But when the competitive juices have been flowing for more than a decade, giving up is never the option, especially when you have the chance to become the king of the pool.

Individual success had eluded McEvoy on the biggest stage, but after completely changing his approach following some time away from the sport, the gold is starting to flow for the 30-year-old who won the 50m freestyle at the world championships last year.

That gave him the belief that he was on the right track heading towards Paris, and after 21.25 seconds in the maddest dash in the pool, McEvoy won the gold that he’d been chasing for so long.

“I got to the point where I was at a crossroads. It was either accept that I had the career that I had and move on or try something new,” he told NewsWire.

“I had a nagging voice in the back of my head that there had to be a different way, so when I had my year off, I had a deep dive into a lot of other sports and got to the point where I woke up one day and thought ‘this makes so much logical sense that I cannot not do this’.

“I had such a strong feeling that I had to get back in the water. If it didn’t work out, it didn’t matter. I just had to do it.

“It was a win-win for me. If it didn’t work out then at least I had closure knowing that what I did was the right way and that I didn’t need to change.

“If it worked then I could see how far it went and just be happy with that by exploring a new relationship with the sport.

“It was effectively a free hit for me, and it paid off.”

The enormity of what he’s achieved will take a while to hit home.

A sleepless night after his race pales in comparison to what’s about to hit him back home, with decisions looming about whether he can defend his title in Los Angeles in 2028.

“When I won the world champs last year, it probably took me a month or two to appreciate what had happened. I think this will take a lot longer to sink in than that,” he said.

“I’m going to let whatever’s going on in the background settle and let the emotions go through the ups and downs in terms of being proud of what I did but also coming to terms with the fact that I have to move on.

“This is special. The race and the medal are nice, but the journey is the bit that reaches out to me far stronger than what the medal represents.”

Celebrating with his teammates in the Olympic village was one thing, but hearing the anthem play at the airport as green and gold lamingtons were being passed around is something he’ll never forget.

“It’s home. It’s special,” he said of the scenes in Sydney.

“Last time I got to do this was eight years ago after Rio because we had to skip it after Tokyo, so it’s really nice to bring this (the gold medal) back.

“It’s a little nerve-racking because as the plane pulls up you can see the crowd through the window and then you see the PM at the bottom of the stairs when you get out and hear all the cheers.”