Kyle Chalmers’ journey from school sport star to Rio Olympic champion
THE Rio Olympics were already on Kyle Chalmers’ radar once he began competing at Marion’s SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre while studying at Immanuel College.
THE Rio Olympics were already on Kyle Chalmers’ radar once he began competing at Marion’s SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre while studying at Immanuel College.
“I’ve still got a fair bit of training to do and hours to put in at the gym and the pool to be ready, but it’s definitely a dream and something I’m working towards,” Chalmers told the Guardian Messenger in April 2013.
Three years later, Chalmers, 18, is a Rio Olympic Games gold medallist.
The Glenelg North superfish won the 100m freestyle in 47.58 secs last Thursday, shocking the swimming world.
He also won two bronze medals as part of Australian relay squads over the past fortnight.
Chalmers – the son of former Port and Crows footballer Brett Chalmers – has always seemed destined for big things.
His name debuted in this paper in 2010 after winning the primary section of Messenger’s School Sports Awards for dominating junior carnivals while living in Port Lincoln.
He claimed the award again the next year.
By 14, Chalmers had swum at the London Olympics trials, was breaking some of Ian Thorpe’s junior records and winning a stack of national underage races.
But to many at the time – including legendary Australian swim coach Laurie Lawrence – winning gold at Rio seemed a fantasy.
“Most of the guys that win Olympic gold medals are men,’’ Lawrence told the Guardian Messenger in April, 2013.
“If he’s 14 now he’s probably a couple of years short – it’ll be the (2018) Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast – he’d be cherry ripe by then.’’
But records kept tumbling and Chalmers’ transition into senior ranks in 2013 was as smooth as his freestyle strokes.
Last year he became the youngest Australian male since Thorpe to make a world championship squad and won his fourth Messenger School Sports award.
Yet as his physique got more imposing, schedule became busier and the Olympics were on the horizon, Chalmers remained the same humble character.
Classmates describe him as a country boy at heart who always has time for them and loves nothing more than cracking jokes or kicking the football.
His popularity among his peers was on show at the Novar Gardens school last Thursday when hundreds of students and staff watched his individual final.
Many screamed with excitement when he triumphed.
“This is a guy the kids have swam with, trained with, sat in lessons with – this is their mate from school and you don’t often get to see your mates win gold medals,” Immanuel principal Kevin Richardson said.
“Our kids were blown away with him just being in a relay team – this is another planet.”
Chalmers, who is completing Year 12 via a study plan that allows him to submit work online, has swum for Immanuel in school carnivals in recent years.
“I’ve watched him swim since he was 11 and seen him win races but to do something like that on the world stage ... it’s incredible,” Richardson said.
Immanuel student Jared Byrnes struggled to comprehend his mate’s achievement.
“He came in as the underdog so it’s insane for him to win the gold medal,” Byrnes, 18, said.
At Chalmers’ home pool at Marion, his coaches Peter Bishop and Shelly Jarrett watched their charge from a function room.
They have guided Chalmers since his move to Adelaide, taking him from promising junior to head-turning senior.
Both coaches could hardly contain their excitement as Chalmers hit the wall first, becoming SA’s first individual Olympic swimming gold medallist.
“We sat down with Kyle a couple of years ago and said ‘this is possible’,” Bishop said.
“For it to come true, it’s amazing. He’s an absolute legend.”
Marion Council wants to recognise Chalmers’ success by offering him keys to the city later this year.
He will also be inducted into Immanuel’s hall of fame when he returns from Brazil alongside such other notable alumni as tennis champion Lleyton Hewitt and former Australian netball captain Natalie Bode.
Kyle Chalmers timeline
■ Born in Ashford Hospital in June, 1998
■ Moves to Port Lincoln after his dad Brett retires from football
■ Takes up swimming at age nine
■ Claims his first Messenger School Sports award in 2010
■ Sets five SA swimming age records in 2011
■ Returns to Adelaide to study at Immanuel College and swim for Norwood
■ Smashes four Australian junior records, including one of Ian Thorpe’s, at national titles in Brisbane in 2012
■ Switches to Marion Swimming Club
■ Snares a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games selection trials in the 50m butterfly
■ Becomes youngest Australian male since Ian Thorpe to qualify for world titles in 2015 and takes home a silver medal in the 4x100m relay
■ Signs multi-year sponsorship deal with Adidas in November, 2015
■ Qualifies for the Olympics in April this year
■ Wins bronze and gold medals at his debut Olympics in Rio