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Kyle Chalmers’ dad has slammed Swimming Australia, our obsession with Cody Simpson and the focus on his son’s private life as the sprint king dominates headlines at the Commonwealth Games.
Brett Chalmers staunchly defended his son and called out everyone who is more intent on hearing about athletes’ personal lives or Simpson’s return to the pool at the expense of other Australian team members.
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Brett’s spray comes after Chalmers slammed the media for focusing on “clickbait” rather than the Dolphins’ impressive results, declaring he’s not sure he wants to continue in the sport if it means dealing with this kind of attention.
The 24-year-old — who now has three gold medals in Birmingham after his victory in the 100m freestyle on Tuesday morning — has been forced to repeatedly deny there is any tension between himself, Simpson and Emma McKeon, who are now dating after she was romantically linked to Chalmers last year.
After his golden swim in his pet event on Tuesday, Chalmers put his finger to his lips to silence the critics, revealing he’d planned the celebration to send a “powerful message” as he affirmed his desire not to let the media “win”.
Speaking to the Ali Clarke Breakfast Show on Mix 102.3, an emotional Brett broke down as he blasted the treatment his son has copped.
“If it was in a workplace and you’re getting asked the same question over and over and over again, it’s a form of bullying and harassment,” he said. “It’s not condoned and it’s not accepted.
“You’d be pulled into the manager’s office pretty fast and if you didn’t stop, you’d probably lose your job, where these people get away with it.”
“They destroy people’s lives and livelihoods. It’s pretty hard.”
Chalmers said Swimming Australia should have done more to “protect” Chalmers and the other athletes involved as he lamented the spotlight being firmly on Simpson, whose incredible return to swimming from a successful music career has provided the sport’s most alluring storyline.
“They (Swimming Australia) failed hugely and it does allow the media to dictate the questions and keep going on about it,” Brett said. “They’ve failed to look after their athletes.
“The two other athletes who were in the relay (with Chalmers) sat there, and there were no other questions put to them at all. So you tell me, what is Swimming Australia doing about it?
“Yes, they’ve got a high-profile person that’s joined the sporting arena. Fantastic, that’s great. But hey, there’s more than one person in the team, as we know.
“They’ve got a rockstar that’s joined, but there’s a guy (Zac Stubblety-Cook) that swims in the breaststroke who is a world championship gold medallist, Olympic gold medallist, a world record holder and now a Commonwealth Games gold medallist. What have they said about him? Why isn’t he the poster boy?
“They don’t show that. They’ve jumped on the bandwagon of someone that swam as a junior, (has) gone away, come back. Fantastic that he’s made an Australian team, I take my hat off to him. But let’s concentrate on everyone else too. There’s more than one person or two people in the team.”
Brett also responded to former Australian swimmer turned popular TV presenter Johanna Griggs, who said on Monday Chalmers is “feeding” the very headlines he’s railed against by repeatedly bringing up the McKeon-Simpson dynamic.
Griggs said Chalmers was giving the story more oxygen by continually mentioning it in interviews and on social media, but Brett blasted that assertion.
“Kyle’s not the one mentioning it. That’s the hardest thing,” he told Abi Clarke.
“Everywhere you look, it’s in the media. People like her (Griggs) are the ones that are bringing it up all the time.
“This whole, ‘Kyle’s getting back at Cody’. No it’s not. Kyle’s his own person, he’s an athlete that’s trained for three quarters of his life in swimming to get to where he is.
“Let’s put it to bed, get over it and let’s celebrate the successes our athletes make.
“Let’s just stop all the rubbish they talk about all the time with their personal lives. That’s their personal life. Do we ask Johanna Griggs about her personal life? Nah. Do we care about it? No. So why do we make it a big deal because it’s an athlete?”
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