International Courant
The Australian swimming coach not too long ago got here underneath fireplace after he supported an athlete who was set to compete for an additional nation on the 2024 Summer season Olympics.
Head coach Rohan Taylor has referred to as Michael Palfrey’s public help for South Korean swimmer Kim Woo-min “un-Australian”. Taylor additionally recommended that Palfrey may very well be compelled to return to Australia earlier than the Olympic swimming competitors begins this weekend.
This yr, swimmers will compete at Protection Enviornment, which is situated within the western suburbs of Paris. “Very disillusioned. Extraordinarily disillusioned,” Taylor mentioned. “For a coach on our workforce to advertise one other athlete earlier than our athletes shouldn’t be acceptable.”
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Rohan Taylor, head coach of Crew Australia Swimming, speaks to the media throughout a Crew Australia Swimming press convention on the press centre forward of the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games on July 25, 2024 in Paris, France. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Photos)
Palfrey is a part of Australia’s Olympic employees, the place he oversees preparations for 3 swimmers and in addition works with a fourth athlete. However he beforehand coached Kim, the South Korean males’s 400m freestyle world champion.
In an interview with South Korean tv, Palfrey mentioned he hoped Kim would win gold in that occasion on the opening day of the swimming competitors.
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“I actually hope he can win, however in the end I actually hope he swims effectively,” Palfrey mentioned. He added: “Go Korea.”
Taylor mentioned Palfrey later apologized for what was characterised as an error in judgment. However Taylor added that he would maintain a gathering with the Australian athletes to debate whether or not the coach ought to proceed with the workforce in Paris.
“For me, my precedence is the workforce efficiency, the athlete efficiency,” Taylor mentioned. “I’ve to take a look at the workforce efficiency and make a judgment on that.”
Kim Woo-min of Crew Republic of Korea celebrates successful gold within the males’s 400-meter freestyle ultimate on day ten of the 2024 World Aquatics Championships on the Aspire Dome on February 11, 2024 in Doha, Qatar. (Quinn Rooney/Getty Photos)
Australia has two of the most important contenders for the gold medal within the 400m freestyle: 2023 world champion Sam Brief and 2022 world champion Elijah Winnington.
It isn’t unusual for coaches to work with athletes from different nations. Among the best American coaches, Bob Bowman, leads a coaching group that features French star Leon Marchand.
Australian swimmers and coaches take a look at the pool at La Protection Enviornment in preparation for the 2024 Summer season Olympics, Wednesday, July 24, 2024 in Paris, France. (AP picture/Ashley Landis)
However with the Olympics simply across the nook, Taylor discovered it utterly unacceptable {that a} coach from the Australian employees would endorse a swimmer from one other nation.
“We confronted him with these particulars,” Taylor mentioned. “He agreed and was reprimanded for it. He’s very remorseful and we’re engaged on it now.”
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However Australian swimmer Bronte Campbell, who’s competing on the Olympics for the fourth time, mentioned the controversy had precipitated “hardly any commotion” throughout the high workforce.
“Whenever you’re within the Olympics, it is all about defending your vitality. It is a massive, lengthy, emotional competitors,” she mentioned. “Everybody is aware of what they should do. We at all times discuss specializing in efficiency first. The way in which you do that’s by specializing in the issues that you may management and which are proper in entrance of you.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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Chantz Martin is a sports activities journalist for Fox Information Digital.
