Hayley Lewis’ son Kai Taylor makes mark in the pool
He is the son of Hayley Lewis but if Kai Taylor keeps his improvement up, Olympian Hayley may one day be better known as the mother of Kai.
Local sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
He’s the teenage sensation with dreams of emulating his famous Olympian mum – but ask Hayley Lewis about her “nice”, “humble” son and she’ll tell you he’s already a champion in her eyes.
Kai Taylor, 17, has rocketed into contention for junior world championship and 2022 Commonwealth Games selection with a stunning swim for St Peters Lutheran College at last week’s Associated Independent Colleges swimming championship.
His 100m time of 50.1 seconds is one of the fastest – if not the fastest – ever recorded at a schoolboy meet.
The stunning effort stamps him as a swimmer of the future – maybe even Australia’s face of swimming at the 2032 Queensland Olympic Games given he will be aged 28.
But Lewis, Australia’s 1990 Commonwealth Games golden girl and winner of silver and bronze Olympic medals, said the most important thing was that her son enjoy the sport.
She said at the same age her love for swimming waned despite her success.
“I felt like swimming was a chore and we did not want our kids to feel like it was mentally hard,’’ she said.
“But Kai loves where his swimming is going and we will support him in whatever he decides to do in the future. He knows with the times he is doing, he still has a long way to go. But he knows we are proud of him regardless.
“As long as he is a nice kid, humble – what more could we ask for? The swimming is just a bonus.’’
Taylor said just because his mother and father Greg were swimmers, it was not automatic that he would swim competitively.
“That pushed me a bit to be a swimmer, but mum and dad were happy for me to do just what I wanted to do,’’ he said.
Taylor, who is flourishing under the coaching of St Peters Western’s Dean Boxall, said his long-term goal was to replicate his mother by becoming an Olympian.
“That is definitely, 100 per cent where I want to be,’’ Taylor said.
“My shorter term goal is the nationals and making a junior Pan Pacs or world juniors.’’
Taylor said his training had indicated he would swim fast at the AIC meet, and he had aimed to swim the 100m in less than 50 seconds.
“But I was not disappointed. It was still an awesome time, a PB (personal best) and a record,’’ he said.
Lewis said because Kai had been in heavy training she was unsure how he would perform at the meet.
“I was counting 42, 43, 44 (seconds) and Greg said I think he is going close to 50 (seconds),’’ she said.
Lewis said that Kai being focused more on team success than individual milestones at the meet probably relaxed him, leading to his personal best performance.
His swim last week smashed the previous AIC school record of 50.67 set by St Peters old boy and New Zealand international swimmer Michael Pickett.
RELATED LINKS
50+ names: Harvey U19 girls players to watch this season
Who will be the key rugby league players to watch from your club this season in the Harvey Norman under-19 female competition? All is revealed here ahead of Saturday’s round one.
Brisbane 2032 Olympics: Sneak peek at 50 athletes you could be watching
Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games sneak peek: Here’s 50 cream of the crop Queensland athletes from 16 sports you could be watching at the LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Olympics. And yes, Gout Gout is one of them.