In the rush towards the impending Olympics, news breaks everyday of collaborations pertaining to the best and brightest. Last week, we covered RUSSH digital cover-star Mary Fowler and her partnership with a Barbie of her own. We here at RUSSH understand the resounding importance of women in sports. Alongside promoting a culture of equity and awareness, we tend firsthand to the cross-sections of sports and fashion. Be it on the world stage or in practice amongst ourselves,

Shaping the future of sports from a femme-centred lens has always been our policy. Brush up on our trip to Nike Summit where we learned firsthand how change takes shape for us, from us.

This week, a new match has aligned in sports and fashion. Dior has announced a new ambassador in Australian swimming champion Emma McKeon. At 30 years shy, McKeon is an eight-time world record holder with 11 Olympic medals under her belt. Following the 2020 Olympics, she became the most awarded Australian Olympian of all time, including a Gold from 2016. McKeon descends from a family of Olympians, joining her uncle and brother in the pool for the competitive sport.

It makes exacting sense that Dior has welcomed McKeon into the house ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The partnership between the athlete and the luxury house reflects its own virtues of discipline, perseverance and respect. Further yet, the matter of bettering oneself beyond the threshold of impossibility is another that conjoins both parties.

Who else is on team Dior?

McKeon has been selected alongside 15 other athletes including Hawaiian surfer Carissa Moore, French boxer Estelle Mossely, skateboarder Louise-Aina Taboulet, fencer Sara Balzer and judoka Clarisse Agbégnénou. A series of portraits of the participating athletes will go on show at Le Café Dior in La Galerie Dior at the brand’s historic flagship in Paris from July 24 to Sept. 9.