Article by Steve Butler courtesy of the West Australian.
The intense scrutiny on Kyle Chalmers continued right to his final wall touch in Birmingham as host nation England pipped Australia for gold in the men’s 4x100m medley relay.
Swimming legend Ian Thorpe said the loss, by just 0.8sec, could have been avoided if Chalmers had used a different breathing tactic so that he was watching his English rival Tom Dean in the dramatic final strokes.
“If you can see what’s going on it may have been a different result,” Thorpe said on Channel 7.
“Similar to what happened in the 100m final at the Olympics.” Thorpe was referring to last year’s final in Tokyo where Chalmers, left, employed a similar breathing strategy in a heartbreaking narrow loss to the US and a last-gasp battle with rival Caeleb Dressel.
Some critics also suggested Dean’s decision to surge to the line while Chalmers, pictured, took an extra quick stroke at the finish , was pivotal. But it was a harsh view given the Australian’s personal split of 46.86sec was quicker than everyone else in the race.
“I gave it everything I possibly could,” Chalmers said. “It would have been nice standing on top of the podium, but it’s a good way to finish the week.”
It ended a turbulent past few days for the 24-year-old , who claimed three gold medals and a silver, but struggled to deal with reports relating to his relationship with Dolphins teammates and new couple Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson.
Ariarne Titmus said after winning her fourth gold medal of the Games that the ordeal had affected the entire team.
“I think it potentially can affect us emotionally because they’re our friends, they’re teammates,” she said. “We’re like a family and we don’t like seeing people upset and put through duress.”
