SWIMMING champion – and Port Adelaide ambassador – Kyle Chalmers has pencilled in an end date on his time in the pool but has ruled out pulling on the boots and making a play at the AFL when that time comes.
Currently in Spain preparing for this month’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Chalmers was this week’s guest on Port Adelaide’s Rock the Razbah podcast where he told hosts Tom Rockliff and Orazio Fantasia, he had previously seriously considered an AFL rookie opportunity but a former Crow made him change his mind.
The Olympic Gold medallist has just turned 24, despite being so accomplished in his field but plans on bowing out after one more Olympic campaign in Paris in 2024.
“You can swim for a long time, it’s just (whether) you want to,” Chalmers told the pod.
“I’ll get Paris out of the way, I’ll be 26-years-old and probably ready to move onto the next chapter of my life.
“Hopefully at that point I’ve ticked all the boxes that I’ve wanted to achieve in the sport and be ready to probably just play some country footy on the weekend with big (Sam) “Sauce” Jacobs and have some fun.
“For me it’s full focus on Paris and I haven’t thought too much about the future but just as long as the body holds up and more importantly as long as the mind holds up (I’ll be there).”
In the lead up to and since winning silver at the Toyko games last year, Chalmers has endured serious health battles including multiple bouts of shoulder surgery and heart surgery.
It made him consider his professional sporting mortality, although a random opportunity to become a Category B rookie on Geelong’s AFL list after Tokyo sparked his competitive juices.
He elected not to go down that path and stay in the pool based on advice from friend and former Carlton and Adelaide player Sam “Sauce” Jacobs.
“In 2020 when I was really struggling with my shoulders I had Troy Selwood send me a message and I had a zoom call with Troy Selwood and the Cats about potentially being a Category B rookie after Tokyo last year and at that point my shoulder was stuffed and I wasn’t swimming at all,” Chalmers told Rockliff and Fantasia.
“I thought, ‘how good is this? This is awesome’. Me and Big Sauce went for a kick around the corner and I started doing some running and kicking every day, starting to actually think that was a possible opportunity but Sauce was probably the guy who talked me out of it.
“He said ‘you’re probably top two or two one in the world in your sport, why do you want to go to being 46th on the list at a club and never playing an AFL game?’. He had a very very valid point so I think I’m happy sticking with swimming now and when that professional side of things is done, I’ll play some country footy, have some fun with it.”
Geelong opportunity aside, Chalmers remains a passionate Port Adelaide supporter and club ambassador, carrying on a family passion borne from his father’s successful on-field career for Port Adelaide.
Brett Chalmers played 120 SANFL and 25 AFL games for Port Adelaide during the 1990s, winning four SANFL premierships and the 1998 Jack Oatey Medal as best on ground in the Grand Final.
Kyle Chalmers once dreamed of following in his father’s footsteps, but is happy being on the other side of the fence now.
“I love being in the crowd,” he said.
“I love being a spectator at the Port games. I don’t think I’d ever actually be good enough to play a game.”
With his sights set on being an individual world champion and swimming a long-course world record before he retires, Chalmers will get an opportunity to tick another of his goals this month in Birmingham, winning gold in his pet 100m freestyle event.
You can watch or listen in to the full podcast here.
