As Madeleine McCann's little brother Sean swims for gold, at last the family name is linked to something other than tragedy

By JENNY JOHNSTON and TRACEY KANDOHLA, REPORTER Published: 23:07, 24 July 2026 | Updated: 23:07, 24 July 2026 A few months after the McCann family returned from Portugal without their beloved Madeleine, Kate McCann took her toddler twins Sean and Amelie to the local pool for swimming lessons. In her memoir, published four years later, she recounted how painful that was. This was the same pool where Madeleine, then three, had learned to swim just a year before, and she knew she would be assailed by mental images of her missing eldest daughter, a proper water-baby, ‘in her little yellow hat’. Yet she also knew, even in her agony, that life had to go on for Sean and Amelie, who were just 12 months younger. There was an unexpected commotion at the poolside, however. While Amelie was more than ready to go with the swimming instructor, Sean was not. He clung to his mother in tears. ‘What should I do?’ Kate recalled. ‘Go for the easy option and take him out with me? He’d learn to swim one day – it didn’t have to be now. Or leave him with the instructor, despite his heartrending cries of “I want my mummy”? ‘It was horrible. I was aware of all the other parents observing this spectacle through the poolside window. Would they think badly of me for leaving my son there crying? “She’s a hard one, that Kate McCann…” Sean McCann has now been selected to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, eligible through his father Gerry, who was born in Glasgow For almost two decades we have known Kate and Gerry McCann as the parents of missing Madeleine, (bottom right) the toddler who disappeared on a family holiday to Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. Sean pictured on the right  ‘In the end I looked pleadingly at the instructor [who said], “Hand him to me and walk away.” ’ This she duly did, praying she was doing the right thing and would not, one day, be haunted by the sight of ‘my little Seany, all red-faced, blotchy and sobbing, through the glass’. One can only imagine what Kate McCann will be feeling this weekend as that frightened little boy – now a 21-year-old man – walks to the edge of a much bigger pool in Glasgow. For her ‘Seany’ not only learned to swim after those first difficult lessons, but devoted himself to the sport and quietly, with his parents’ encouragement – and willingness to get up at 4am to drive him to training – became an elite distance freestyler. He has now been selected to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, eligible through his father Gerry, who was born in Glasgow. For the start of his international adult career he will be competing in the men’s 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle. Next stop, he hopes, will be the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 as part of Team GB. For almost two decades we have known Kate and Gerry McCann as the parents of missing Madeleine, the toddler who disappeared on a family holiday to Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. But their presence at the Commonwealth Games will be a powerful and moving reminder that they have always been the parents of Sean and Amelie, too. Amelie, who’s studying at university, is also a talented athlete in her own right, regularly competing in triathlons. It is believed she will be in Glasgow as well, cheering on her twin. This week a former member of Sean’s coaching team told the Daily Mail that the combination of a young man who was ‘really driven and never one to take the easiest route’, and parents who willed him on, had made him a powerhouse and his story an inspiration. Kate and Gerry McCann would ferry Sean to training sessions at Braunstone Leisure Centre, a 20-minute drive from the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire, This weekend all eyes will be on Sean as he makes his adult debut on the world stage In his teenage years Sean’s parents would ferry him to training sessions at Braunstone Leisure Centre, a 20-minute drive from the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire, where he would clock up eight or nine two-hour swim sessions a week, plus two or three punishing gym workouts. Kate and Gerry ‘encouraged their children, but didn’t push them’ said the insider, who coached Sean as a youngster. He remembered the young man being focused on the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad in 2023 and then deciding he wanted to race for Scotland and for GB in open-water events – so for swimming competitively he changed his nationality to Scottish. ‘For the Commonwealth Games, I was lucky enough to be at the trials in London when he was racing. It was great to watch him and talk to him between prep, to be a part of it and see his journey unfold.’ What a journey, too, for Sean, who is studying chemical engineering at Loughborough University – chosen for its unrivalled sports facilities. Distance swimming is an unforgiving sport. Yet those who know Sean’s career describe a steady, determined progression, even during the pandemic lockdown when he would train out of the pool, at home with Amelie, who is also a keen swimmer. In the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games, he reached the finals of the 400m and 1500m freestyle, and has since qualified for the European Open Water Championships representing Great Britain. Sean himself said this week that he was ‘very excited’ about the challenges ahead. ‘It’s the pinnacle really – of representing Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, and especially at a home games. I’ve got lots of family up in Glasgow so that makes it even more special. I was there in 2014 watching as a kid, so to make it now, 12 years later, is really a full circle moment. ‘It’s my first senior games, so I’m just looking forward to be representing Scotland and doing my absolute best. I always tend to go out quite slow and build my way into a race. That’s just how I like to pace it.’ To this day, it is not not know whether Madeleine – who would now be 23 – is alive or dead Little Madeleine was a bona fide water baby too, fearless as she would leap into the pool, accoring to a 2011 memoir But it’s how his mum and dad have paced his journey to where he is today that is truly awe-inspiring. Being the parent of an elite athlete can be all-consuming, but Kate and Gerry provided a supportive home backdrop at a time when they were also going through hell. To this day, they do not know whether Madeleine – who would now be 23 – is alive or dead. One could have forgiven them for not being able to get out of bed at all, never mind at 4am. And yet that 2011 memoir of Kate’s is fascinating, read in retrospect. Unbearably moving at the time, what shines through now is that even in those early stages of grief and loss, the McCanns were starting to provide an environment in which their remaining children could thrive, focus and move doggedly on – even while continuing to remember Madeleine (whose birthday they still celebrate every year) and hope for her safe return. Sport had long occupied a central place in the McCann household. There is a famous picture of Madeleine holding as many tennis balls as her little arms could manage, taken on the last day her family spent with her. The venue for that holiday, the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, was chosen partly because of the excellent sporting facilities. Kate and Gerry met when they were junior doctors but they bonded over a mutual love of sport, and it continued to underpin their life. Gerry was a talented middle-distance runner, at one time the fastest in Scotland in his age group over 800m. On their first date, he suggested a run. Kate baulked a little – she would later tease him about his insistence on wearing his bright yellow running top even out socially – but met his challenge. For her, running or swimming was always a coping mechanism as well as a hobby. The pair, Kate revealed in that memoir, had struggled to conceive. When their first round of IVF failed, early on in their marriage, she ‘went for a hard fast run to try to expel some of my distress, pain and anger’. When she did become pregnant with Madeleine, she swam every other day, up until the day before she went into labour. Little Madeleine was a bona fide water baby too, fearless as she would leap into the pool. On the first day of that fateful holiday in 2007, they’d barely unpacked when Madeleine persuaded her mum to take her swimming. Kate recalled that the water was unexpectedly cold and, as she lowered herself gingerly in, she joked to a fellow holidaymaker: ‘The things we do for our children.’ We all know what happened next: the horror of Madeleine’s disappearance and the ensuing investigation played out in the full glare of publicity. In the immediate aftermath, some were puzzled that Kate – who had bought new running shoes for that holiday – continued to pound the streets. What sort of mother would go for a run when the worst sort of family tragedy was unfolding, critics asked? As she explained in that memoir, putting one trainer in front of the other was her way of not going mad. She also recalled the visceral pull of the water in those distressing circumstances. ‘I had an overwhelming urge to swim out across the ocean, as hard and as fast as I could; to swim and swim and swim until I was so far out and so exhausted I could just allow the water to pull me under and relieve me of this torment.’ She continued to run and swim on her return to the UK, and has done so ever since – her slight frame a regular sight striding through their home village. Kate often takes part in indoor cycling sessions and Pilates at a nearby fitness centre. Gerry, now a senior cardiology consultant, still regularly cycles to work. Much of their sport has been pursued as a family, which seems key to their survival. Those close to them say that the McCanns have been the sort of family who are busy most of the time. In 2023, Kate’s uncle, retired headteacher Brian Kennedy, joked about how it was hard to actually get to see them because they were always on the go, but he told this paper that sport has ‘helped keep them grounded and focused’. This new chapter for the McCanns won’t be without its difficulties. For 19 years Kate and Gerry have done their utmost to protect their twins, shielding them from public scrutiny. This weekend, though, all eyes will be on Sean, as he makes his adult debut on the world stage, his proud parents willing him on. All are hoping that, at last, the name McCann will be known for something else.