Kyle Chalmers’ Olympic gold medal triumph a powerful display of maturity and race craft
THE way that Kyle Chalmers motored home as our newest swimming gold medallist gave me flashbacks to the greatest Olympic win I’ve seen poolside, writes KIEREN PERKINS.
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THE astonishing way that Kyle Chalmers motored home as our newest swimming gold medallist gave me flashbacks to the greatest Olympic win I’ve been privileged to see poolside when Ian Thorpe anchored Australia’s relay gem in Sydney 16 years ago.
It was the way Kyle “No Chance” swam over the top of the field in the final 50m to claim gold just as the young Thorpie powered past Gary Hall Junior to deliver that incredible 4x100m freestyle gold that lit up the Sydney Olympics.
I say “No Chance” because that was exactly my assessment at the 50m mark after an appalling start and being a bodylength behind in seventh.
The maturity and race craft would have been impressive in an experienced swimmer but this was an 18-year-old just rocking up to his first big 100m final.
When former swimmers and those who have been around the pool for much of their lives are surprised and in awe that is absolutely a reflection of a standout performance.
I think Stephanie Rice summed it up pretty well with her tweet: “Hollllly Wow.”
Kyle’s life is never going to be the same and not just because he’ll now be the hunted champ in the spotlight.
What you don’t understand until you attend your first Olympics is that world champions get recognised, world records get broken and Olympic gold medallists are forever.
Kyle will certainly have no trouble finding himself a date for his Year 12 formal in Adelaide. It might have been his only black tie event of the year but I sense there will now be a whole bunch to attend.
I won my first Olympic gold medal at the same age in 1992 in Barcelona and you don’t even imagine some of the things that happen to you next.
Unfortunately, I was reminded that for me that was making a brief and very poor TV cameo on Home and Away after Barcelona.
In swimming, there are those who work hard and the sprinters who look pretty. I dare say Kyle has the bronzed Aussie look to make any soapie cameo more memorable than my own.
What this means to Australian swimming on a broader level is immense because the image to mums and dads, boys, girls and all those aspiring swimmers was twofold because of Cam McEvoy.
His gracious “bloody wonderful” celebration of the Chalmers victory was all class.
That to me was the mark of how far the swim team culture has come since the demons of the London Olympics four years ago.
Cam’s own ambitions were not delivered and he would have been bitterly upset but he was still full of qualities to admire.
That sense of team being stronger as a whole than individuals has been reflected throughout.
These are part of what creates legacy. Potential swim mums and dads see integrity and the values they want for their own children growing up.
It’s a major difference to when parents cringe as they may have four years ago.
I was lucky to have swum through a golden period for Australian swimming in the 1990s and there is the potential for this next era to be very strong.
Three gold medals in the pool and it is not yet over because I fancy Cate Campbell will join Kyle as a 100m freestyle gold medallist.
Her semi-final win was fluent of stroke and in control.
Her last moment of power in that race is what gives me confidence for the final because when the Canadian girl Penny Oleksiak ate back her lead a little, Cate put on a spurt to show she was in total control.
Cate and sister Bronte feed off each other in a very positive way.
You swim fast when you free yourself of stress and that’s how Cate Campbell looks to me.
Originally published as Kyle Chalmers’ Olympic gold medal triumph a powerful display of maturity and race craft