Joshua Palmer holds no resentment after closing ceremony ban, just wants KFC and sleep

SOUTH Australian swimmer Joshua Palmer holds no resentment over his ban from the Olympic Games closing ceremony following a boozy late-night bender during which he says he was robbed at gun point.

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SOUTH Australian swimmer Joshua Palmer holds no resentment over his ban from the Olympic Games closing ceremony following a boozy late-night bender during which he says he was robbed at gun point.

Palmer, 25, arrived at Adelaide Airport with fellow South Australian Olympic athletes, including gold medallist swimmer Kyle Chalmers, on Wednesday and told The Advertiser he felt “okay” about missing the closing ceremony.

“I did the wrong thing by not sending a text message to my team leader so I took the punishment on the chin and had a good watch of it on TV,” he said.

The Marion Swimming Club member said he understood why Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller punished him for having the late night out in Rio.

“She’s just doing her job,” he said.

“She knows what’s happening so we’ll leave it at that I think.”

Palmer, who made a low-key Olympic debut that lasted just over one minute in the 100m breaststroke heats, and gold medallist swimmer Emma McKeon were controversially prohibited from going to the closing ceremony after they breached team rules by having a late night out during the games.

The Australian Olympic Committee then reversed its decision and allowed McKeon, who was penalised for staying with a friend overnight without notifying management, to take part in the closing ceremony.

However, the ban still applied to Palmer, who was found disoriented in Copacabana and says a man forced him at gun point go to an ATM, withdraw $1000 cash and hand it over.

It was reported that Palmer had stayed out all night drinking at beach bars.

Back home, Palmer said he planned to tuck into his favourite food and catch up on some much-needed rest.

“KFC … that’s pretty much it (for the day), and sleep I think,” he said.

And while he said he wanted to represent Australia again at the 2020 Olympics in Japan, he would do things differently next time.

“Send a text message to my team leader, that’s what I’d do differently next time,” he said.