According to dad Brett, a former AFL player who played for the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide, Kyle is the driving force behind his own success. He played 120 games that earned four premierships as well as a Jack Oatey Medal as man of the match in the 1998 grand final. It all seems a bit un-Australian.
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Chalmers, the son of former Australian Rules player Brett, had until recently harboured a dream of following his father into the indigenous football code, but was forced to choose between the sports previous year when injuries piled up.
We are sure to be seeing a lot more of the self described South Australian “country boy”, and now Olympic champion, a lot more in the years to come.
Both he and Chalmers – a three-time champion at last year’s World Junior Championships – were left floundering as Canada’s Santo Condorelli shot off down the first 50m.
Chalmers was the form swimmer through the heats and semis and second only to Adrian in qualifying for the final. Bronte is the reigning world champion, but Cate is the world-record holder.
Belmonte surged in the third lap and touched 0.14 seconds in front at the final turn to set up a grandstand finish, and in a frenetic finish managed to touch the wall in 2:04.85, three one-hundredths of a second in front of Groves.
Adrian was the anchor for the US 4×100-meter freestyle relay team that won gold Sunday night in Rio.
Mr Chalmers now coaches the football team and Kyle’s high school Immanuel College.
The grandmother of Australia’s newest swimming star has revealed the one piece of advice she gave her grandson as he weighed up his career options. Some came close, including a silver to James Magnussen in 2012 and a bronze to the great Ian Thorpe in 2004.
Men’s 100m Freestyle Victory Ceremony – Olympic Aquatics Stadium – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 10/08/2016.
That’s what Australia’s swim team are telling themselves as they seek to ride in the wake of Kyle Chalmers’ extraordinary gold medal.
“He appeared to have forgotten the words to Advance Australia Fair”, wrote the paper’s sports editor, Wally Mason. “It definitely shows that the standard of global heats swimming has improved but I believe that’s no indication of the potential they (rival swimmers) have”.
With his now size 15 feet powering him along, he had what it took.
Australia’s Kyle Chalmers gets a hug from Cameron McEvoy after winning the 100m freestyle finals.
The teenager was seventh on the turn but powered through the final length to claim a shock victory.
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The Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championship gold medallist from 2014 took a break in 2015 from competitive swimming, but has returned as a force to be reckoned with.
