{"id":377503,"date":"2019-07-01T04:00:41","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T11:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=377503"},"modified":"2019-07-01T07:50:17","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T14:50:17","slug":"swimming-world-presents-kyle-chalmers-destined-for-greatness-on-the-cover-of-july-2019-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-kyle-chalmers-destined-for-greatness-on-the-cover-of-july-2019-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming World Presents “Kyle Chalmers: Destined For Greatness” On the Cover of July 2019 Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyle Chalmers: Destined For Greatness<\/span><\/h2>\n

By David Rieder<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyle Chalmers never dreamed of swimming in the Olympic Games, winning a gold medal and watching the Australian flag hoisted into the rafters of a 15,000-seat arena while the tune of \u201cAdvance Australia Fair\u201d echoed through the building. No, Chalmers envisioned a future in which he would follow in his father\u2019s footsteps into the Australian Football League.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of got into swimming because I had a 10-meter swimming pool in my backyard, so I could comfortably swim a few laps,\u201d Chalmers said. \u201cAs a 9-year-old kid in Port Lincoln, that kind of got me onto the school swimming team, just because I was one of very few people who could actually swim that distance.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he was 16, he traveled to Sydney for Australia\u2019s national swimming championships, a trip he described as necessary \u201cfor the experience of racing the big boys, I guess.\u201d Chalmers spoke casually about that 2015 national meet as if it were any other weekend meet and not some potentially life-changing event. But in the 100 meter free, Chalmers \u201cmanaged to slip through to the final and ended up getting fourth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds nonchalant\u2014except he had actually lowered his lifetime best by 8-tenths to 48.69 and qualified for his first World Championships team. He would represent Australia in the 400 free relay a few months later in Kazan, Russia.<\/p>\n

And then he went home and went out for the school football team. And a mere two months before leaving for Russia, Chalmers got hurt while playing football, cracking a bone in his wrist and injuring ligaments in his ankle.<\/p>\n

Naturally, the powers that be in Swimming Australia were less than pleased.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a few calls from people from Swimming Australia, people a bit higher up, and they told me then and there I had to make the decision whether I was going to represent Australia in swimming or whether I was going to play football,\u201d Chalmers said. \u201cI kind of made that decision that I wanted to go to World Champs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chalmers pinpointed that turn of events as the spark that convinced him to take swimming seriously for the first time. He was ready to put aside his dreams at professional football in order to pursue a new one.<\/p>\n

At 18, he won Olympic gold in the men\u2019s 100 free. After undergoing heart surgery in 2017, he rebounded in 2018 to win a combined nine medals (five gold) at the Pan Pacs and Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n

Now, all eyes are on Chalmers to win gold at this month\u2019s World Championships.<\/p>\n

To read about Kyle Chalmers’ rise to the Olympic platform and his plans for World Champs,
\ncheck out the full July 2019 issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/em>, available now!<\/p>\n

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