Paris Olympics will be last for Australian swim king Kyle Chalmers
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Australia's Kyle Chalmers won the 100m freestyle gold at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July.
PHOTO: AFP
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SYDNEY – Australian swim king Kyle Chalmers on Wednesday said that the Paris Olympics in 2024 will be his third and last, but the sprint star also insisted it did not mean that he was retiring.
The 25-year-old scorched the field to win the 100m freestyle gold at the world championships in Fukuoka in July, bagging the one medal that had long eluded him.
It gave him the full set, having also achieved the feat at the Olympic, Commonwealth and world short-course level.
“It will be the last Olympics for me, definitely,” he told SEN sports radio.
“I’ll be 26 next year, and even this year, when I was in the marshalling room, I was the oldest in my race by a long margin. There are guys that were born in 2003 or 2004 that are there now.
“Even in Tokyo, I was the second oldest at 22 and the old boy Caleb Dressel has slowed down a little bit. I’ll be old and ready to start the next chapter of my life.”
His comments were widely interpreted in Australia as calling it quits altogether, but Chalmers later took to Instagram to clarify that this was not the case.
“I am not retiring! The quote was ‘It will be my last Olympics’,” he said.
“There are many competitions after the Olympics that still give me the opportunity to represent my country at the highest level.
“We have a World Championships short-course in 2024, World Championship long-course in 2025, Commonwealth Games in 2026 and plenty of World Cups in there also.
“I’ll be busy, I have plenty of titles that need defending.”
Two years ago, the Australian had said that shoulder operations had left him “feeling like a 40-year-old at the age of 23” but he hoped that his body can hold up for another Olympics in 2024.
He had been the focus of media attention after he won his first Olympic gold in the 100m free at Rio 2016 and silver behind Dressel at Tokyo 2020, which was delayed a year due to Covid-19.
Outside the pool, he was at the centre of a supposed rift in 2022 with former girlfriend Emma McKeon – who won seven medals in Tokyo – and singer teammate Cody Simpson, who are now a couple.
Chalmers, who stepped away from swimming for a period that year, had also gone public with his mental health battles following his close friend and breaststroke specialist Adam Peaty’s decision to take a break for similar issues.
AFP, REUTERS
