‘It’s a high stress, intensity and pressure sport – it’s about how long my body and mind hold up’
Swim star Kyle Chalmers says he’s in a good place after the love triangle rumours that pushed him to breaking point.
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When Kyle Chalmers hits the water he feels a sense of calm. The irony is that lately, the noise outside of the pool has been the cause of so much distress for the Olympic and Commonwealth gold medallist.
Only a few months ago it would have been hard to miss a headline about Australia’s speed machine.
His forthright approach in revealing his feelings and struggles with all the personal attention made him a national talking point.
The spotlight on Chalmers is probably not surprising given how much we revere athletes that triumph on the world stage.
And the 24-year-old could have gone either way with his swimming career in those flashpoint moments at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in late July and August. But after a break and a bit of R & R, he’s found a good balance and a happy place.
“I’ve formed a very good relationship with the pool that I think is the greatest form of meditation for me - when I jump in and just swim, with no coach and no pressure and just swim for fun,’’ he said.
“Swim a kilometre maybe and in my own mind I’m just zoned out to the world.
“It’s probably my safest place and it’s my greatest form of meditation these days and something I try to do even while I’m on a break.
“I love my sport, I love my job, I love what comes with it and the travel and being able to have this time off has been refreshing and nice. I just have to find peace with everything and I do love what I do and I love being able to travel and swimming and representing my country – there’s no greater feeling. I’m definitely in a good place with swimming. My body is the best it’s felt in a really long time.”
It’s heartwarming to hear Chalmers - the one-time teenage Olympic sensation - speak about the future with enthusiasm. The angst he felt was as a result of rumours and talk of a love triangle between his ex-girlfriend swimmer Emma McKeon and her now boyfriend, the new kid on the block, popstar-turned-swimmer, Cody Simpson. All three insisted there was no friction between them but after a Games press conference where questioning about the relationships continued, the champion took to social media in the early hours of the morning to reveal he was at “breaking point” as a result.
His confusion was palpable as he went from swimming’s golden child to, seemingly, its villain in an instant.
“I have dedicated my life to this sport and representing my country. I am your poster boy from 2016 and I’m your villain in 2022,” he wrote at the time.
He would later reveal the toll the entire episode took on his mental health and the impact it had on his family back in South Australia.
“It upsets me that I have to go home to my mum crying on FaceTime to me,” he said at the time.
Even his father Brett, a former Port Adelaide AFL player, weighed in saying all the treatment his son copped was a form of bullying and harassment that shouldn’t be tolerated.
“They (Swimming Australia) failed hugely and it does allow the media to dictate the questions and keep going on about it,” Brett told Mix 102.3. “They’ve failed to look after their athletes.”
Kyle Chalmers today insists the scuttlebutt was false, but still acknowledges the significant impact it had on his mental health.
He said while he had a tough, tattooed exterior, he would like people to remember he’s also a human too.
Despite the distractions, Chalmers showed incredible resilience and won three gold medals in Birmingham with a crowning victory in his pet event, the 100m freestyle.
It was a sweet win after Chalmers claimed a silver medal in Tokyo 2020, finishing just 0.06 secs behind American Caeleb Dressel. (This after the then 18 year old burst onto the scene at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, winning an unexpected gold in the 100m and breaking a 48-year Australian drought in the event in the process).
While the whole saga left him unsettled, a couple of months on, he prefers to focus on his successes – among them two gold medals at World Championships, a haul of seven Commonwealth Games gold medals, a Pan Pacific Championships gold medal and four Oceania Championships gold medals.
The lad from Port Lincoln, known affectionately as the ‘big tuna’, still has a list of achievements he has to tick off; the 2024 Paris Olympics at the top of the list.
And after overcoming his heart ailment and surgery in 2019 for a long-term condition, and shoulder surgery last year, he’s taking nothing for granted.
“I’ve got a few more things to do and I’ll be a happy man,’’ Chalmers said
“I think it’s just the 100m freestyle, it’s just ticking off all the boxes in that.
“I’ve done an Olympic gold medal, Pan Pacs gold medal, Oceania, Commonwealth Games now, junior world champs; I’ve got the world record in short course.
“World champ long course and short course gold medals I still have to do and then I’ve got the clean sweep in that event. World short course is at end of the year and it’s an important one to get the job done in that event.
“Then I have a crack at world long course and if I can go out with a bang in Paris and do well there, I can have a pretty successful career to look back on and be pretty content and happy that I’ve achieved everything I wanted to and set my sights on.
“There’s still a few things to go and a lot of hard work to go.
“I just take it as it comes. My body could give way tomorrow so it’s a hard thing to gauge.
“Paris is the goal and I’ll do everything right to get myself right for it. You have to be a bit flexible because you never know what’s going to come up with your body and I just take it day by day to be the best I can be.”
Chalmers’ current peaceful state emanates from having time with family and friends before he heads to Europe on October 16.
He lives with his mum Jodie and his brother Jackson, who just went off to join the army. He often trains in Noosa with Ash Delaney to have a change of scenery, but it’s getting back to his family roots in Port Lincoln, South Australia, which also helps put a smile on his face.
“I’ve only spent six nights in my bed in Adelaide in the past four-and-a-half months so just being back in and around South Australia is quite nice,’’ he said.
“I live with my mum and did have my brother there but he’s gone to the army and he’s moved out now.
“It’s a bit sad, he’s my best mate, so it’s a shame to see him go. Mum mans the fort for me when I go away; she does everything for me.
“Adelaide is as easy as it comes. I’ve got everything I need here. I love it here; it’s like a big country town, all my family and friends are here and couldn’t make it any easier if I tried.
“I’ve got everything I possibly need to be the best in the world and everything I need to be happy, so for me Adelaide is home for the time being.
“Eventually I’ll move home to Port Lincoln and live a more chilled lifestyle. For the time being Adelaide is home and I love it here.”
Chalmers has a big interest in other sports, and he will be making a trip to Melbourne as a Caulfield Cup Carnival special guest. He will attend Caulfield Guineas Day on October 8 as the racecourse welcomes crowds back after two Covid-affected years.
Guineas Day is one for the racing purists, with three big Group 1 races, the highlight being the $2m Caulfield Guineas for three-year-olds.
An animal lover, with a passion for raising reptiles and caring for his own batch of snakes, Chalmers is keen to learn more about horses and the racing industry.
“It’s going to be cool, something I’ve always wanted to do but I’ve just never been able to find the time to get across to Melbourne for it,’’ he said.
“I got to dig a lot deeper into the industry (in Adelaide), and one of my coaches, Ash Delaney, his wife works at the Caloundra racecourse on the Sunshine Coast so I get exposed to it a little bit which is nice.
“But to actually get up close with the horses – I’m a very curious person – so to find out a bit more about the animals, I’m going to love that. And for me hopefully being able to be exposed to the jockeys a little bit and how they prepare and how they go about their race day, I’m excited about that opportunity when I go across to Melbourne as well.
“I’m excited; it’s more than just going and watching a race, it’s learning from another professional industry how they compete and more than just betting on the horses. For me it’s exciting in many capacities.
“I’ve never been to the races while in Melbourne; I’ve driven past the racecourses a few times but unfortunately it’s never fitted into my schedule.
“People haven’t been able to go for three years so to be able to go and celebrate I think it’s going to be an exciting day for everyone. I see it every year pop up on my Instagram feed and it’ll be really fun.”
Chalmers also loves basketball; his favourite players are Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum, and he is close to many athletes including former Crows footballers Bryce Gibbs and
Sam Jacobs.
He is always willing to learn and has the right support network, heading in the right direction to produce fast swims, personal bests and record times. There is no time frame on his career – for now he just loves being in the water.
“The athlete community is quite close, I’ve got friends in pretty much every sporting code I can think of,’’ he says.
“I have a broad range of friends in lots of different sports.
“We bounce ideas off each other. We all understand each others’ lifestyles pretty well. Like-minded friends and we’re all understanding and supportive.
“At the Comm Games I won three gold and a silver and I was able to win the 100m freestyle and I guess almost redeem myself after missing it by such a fractional margin in 2018 in front of a home crowd. It was nice to stand on the podium this time around and have the national anthem play and I could tick that box off because it was one I needed to do in my swimming career so that I could eventually retire a happy man.
“Let’s see how everything pans out. It’s a very high stress, high intensity, high pressure sport – it’s just about how long my body and mind hold up for, really.”
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