Emma McKeon and her teenage self who nearly gave swimming away in 2012 would struggle to relate to each other.

The 30-year-old made Australian sporting history on day one of the Paris Olympics, becoming the country’s most prolific gold medallist.

The 4x100m freestyle relay win takes McKeon to six golds, one ahead of Ian Thorpe.

It is far removed from 12 years ago, when McKeon narrowly missed selection for the London Games and considered retiring from the sport.

“If I look back at that young (person) – I think I was 17 when I missed London – you couldn’t have told her that I was going to go on to do this,” she said.

“It’s just persisting, you have up and you have downs. You just keep going along and you keep ticking the boxes. I can’t believe where I’m at right now.”

But there is little mystery for McKeon about why the Australian 4×100 freestyle women have won the last four Olympic gold medals.

“As the years go on, the standard gets higher and higher. You look at the history of this event for Australia, everyone wants to be part of that,” she said.

“The bar keeps raising, that’s probably what brings the strength to this team.”

McKeon continues her Paris campaign on Sunday in the 100m butterfly.

She is likely to also feature in the 4x100m medley relay and the 4×100 mixed medley relay.