Swimming-'Go Korea' - Australian coach in trouble for talking up rival

PARIS - Australian Olympic officials may send one of the team's coaches home for saying he hopes a South Korean swimmer he has worked with can beat his Australian rivals in the 400 metres freestyle when the meet starts on Saturday.

Michael Palfrey told media this week he hoped world champion Kim Woo-min would win gold in the event in which Australia's Sam Short and Elijah Winnington are also contenders.

Olympic swimming coaches are often freelancers who work with multiple nations' swimmers.

"There will be three or four of them in the race that think they can win it," media reports quoted Palfrey as saying.

"I think it’s going to come down to that last 100 metres.

"We need Woo-min to lift, that’s what I’ll be saying to him. He's got to race tough.

"I really hope he can win, but ultimately I really hope he swims well."

Palfrey's comments triggered a fierce reaction from team officials and the Australian Olympic committee, who said Palfrey had made a "serious error of judgement" in a statement.

Team chef de mission Anna Meares said Palfrey's comments were a "surprise and a shock" while head swimming coach Rohan Taylor said officials would meet on Thursday to decide whether he would be allowed to continue in his role in Paris.

"Promoting an athlete who is not Australian is un-Australian," Taylor told reporters.

"If he stays, then it's about the team dynamic."

Palfrey coaches three Australian swimmers on the Olympic team - Zac Incerti, Abbey Connor, Alex Perkins and works with breaststroker Sam Williamson.

He has also been working with Kim and other South Korean swimmers who have trained in Australia.

Governing body Swimming Australia issued a notice to Olympic team coaches not to start new arrangements with foreign swimmers in April.

Taylor said it was a "fairly grey area" as to whether Palfrey had continued to coach Kim after the directive but disclosed that the coach had exchanged emails with the swimmer about his training programme.

Taylor coached a British swimmer to two Olympic Games but said he would not have promoted the athlete while working for Australia at a Games.

"I had no contact with her other than hello," he said.

"The key thing here is this coach wants another athlete from another country to win."

Australia swimmer Zac Stubblety-Cook, the Olympic 200 metres breaststroke champion, said he would feel disappointed if he heard his coach was backing another team's athletes.

He said Short and Winnington were not too worried about the issue, though.

"At the end of the day, we're here to perform .... Yes, it's disappointing but it hasn't rocked the boat too much." REUTERS