At 18 years old Kyle Chalmers won the men’s 100m freestyle Olympic gold title in Rio 2016 and broke the junior world reckon with 47.58 seconds.
Now he’s not only an Olympic champion but a junior world, Oceania, ISL, World Cup, Pan Pacific, Commonwealth, World Short and Long course champion.
Kyle continues to train even at home.
(Image: Instagram)Just after his outstanding performance in Los Angeles winning his first individual world championships gold medal, Kyle announced he would not be returning to the Olympics after Paris 2024.
“Even this year, being in the marshalling room before the race, I was the oldest by quite a few years.”
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A very young, 18-year-old, Kyle with his first Olympic gold in Rio 2016.
(Image: Getty)“There’s a lot of young guys rolling through. 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.” He told SEN radio station.
His statement regarding age resulted in quite the outrage online as many believed 26 years old would be old and slightly insensitive. However, Kyle has made it clear he is not retiring, merely just finished with the Olympics.
Kyle shared to Instagram this pic, showing off his medals from his last competition in Los Angeles.
(Image: Instagram)“There are many competitions after the Olympics that still give me the opportunity to represent my country at the highest level,” he shared on Instagram.
Even though Michael Phelps competed at 31 years old, with the Olympics being 4 years apart, it does make sense why a lot of athletes stop competing at a young age.
Olympic titles are considered to be the highest accomplishment athletes can achieve and many choose to quit while they are still in the running for the top 3 medals.
However, he hasn’t completely given up competing in another Olympics’ after Paris and even suggests he might compete when the Olympics returns to Australia.
At the last Olympics, he finished with a silver medal for the 100m freestyle in 2022.
(Image: Getty)“But yes, Paris will be my third and most likely last Olympic Games. 2028 is a very long way away, but who knows, if the body and the mind hold up maybe I’ll even be in Brisbane in 2032.”
But he is currently just focusing on succeeding in Paris.
