Michael Klim has revealed his biggest battle has been mental, not physical, as he battles a rare autoimmune disorder that left him unable to walk.
The 46-year-old Australian swimming legend was diagnosed with a neurological disorder, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), in 2020.
This weekend, he told The Sunday Project that the “mental toughness” he had as an athlete is something he had to rediscover to deal with his physical ailments.
“Almost all athletes are taught physically, but mentally you have to work hard. Even after playing sports, I adopted that same mentality,” he said.
‘For me, being more vulnerable and listening to my body and my emotions is something I’m still learning to do better and something that has helped me a lot.
He added: “The biggest thing I had to overcome was accepting the new identity. To a lot of people, I’m still the swimmer and before I relied on my physique to give me a lot of mental strength.
“Now that the physicality is really gone, I need to find another mental strength to overcome the physical disabilities.”
Michael went on to say that as his illness progresses, he has learned to value time with his family above all else.
Michael Klim (pictured) has revealed his biggest battle has been mental, not physical, as he battles a rare autoimmune disorder that left him unable to walk.
“It’s really changed my outlook on life. I now value the time I spend with my children much more,” she said.
“It’s brought my family much closer together. It’s rekindled a lot of friendships and relationships that I had in my life.”
The former swimmer was on The Project to promote his new biography, KLIM, which hits stores on August 28.
Michael recently shared the devastating details of his “tough” four-year battle with CIDP.
The former Olympian has spoken openly about the challenging diagnosis, which saw him lose the ability to walk in just six months and left him bedridden.
The 46-year-old swimming legend was diagnosed with the neurological disorder chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) in 2020 (pictured above in hospital).
CIDP causes the body to attack its own tissue (the myelin sheaths that insulate and protect nerves), causing weakness and numbness in the arms and legs.
Klim has detailed his “tough” four-year battle with the disorder and spoken about the mental challenge of going from being an Olympic athlete to being unable to walk.
Speaking at Drew Barrymore and Wanderlust’s True North event in Sydney, Klim explained how the muscles in her legs began to “disappear” as she deteriorated.
“At first I had a lot of neural symptoms (most people had cold feet at night or tingling in their quads), but then I started having random sensations in my legs that progressed and got worse,” she shared.
“The most important thing I had to overcome was accepting my new identity. For many people, I will still be the swimmer. Before, I depended on my physique to have a lot of mental strength,” he said.
‘Towards the end, my legs would buckle when I walked back. All my other aches and pains started to flare up even more, affecting my daily life from my ankle to my back.
“I almost fell off my feet and within six months I couldn’t walk. I lost all function from my knees down; my muscles were literally disappearing.
‘No matter how many races I tried, nothing could get them moving and activate those muscles.’
Klim, who can now walk with the aid of a cane, admitted that the diagnosis also affected him mentally, as he found it difficult to accept his physical symptoms.
“It was really confronting mentally, not just physically,” she explained while speaking to reporters ahead of actress Drew’s talk at the ICC Theatre.
Klim says he appreciates his family more than ever now. He was previously married to Lindy Klim and they have children: Stella, 17, Rocco, 15, and Frankie, 12. Since their split in 2016, Klim began dating Michelle, while Lindy married Adam Ellis (all pictured together).
“I could look down and see these sticks hanging off my body, which for someone who used to pride himself on his physical ability, they were taken away within six months.”
Klim is undergoing rehabilitation that includes plasma treatment, which has helped him gain mobility by reducing inflammation and restoring nerve damage.
“The last two years have been good, but the first two were quite hard,” he said, speaking about the challenges of being diagnosed amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also praised his girlfriend Michelle Owen for her support over the past four years and admitted it has been a tough journey.
Klim first revealed his romance with DJ Michelle in October 2019, three years after his split from his model ex-wife Lindy Klim in 2016 after 10 years of marriage.
Balinese Princess Lindy has since married property developer Adam Ellis and the couple welcomed a daughter, Goldie, in 2017.
Klim and Lindy remain on good terms and often spend time together with their new partners while raising their three children together: Stella, 17, Rocco, 15, and Frankie, 12.
Swimmer Klim is perhaps best known for his great triumph at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, where he took gold for Australia.
In the 4x200m freestyle relay, Klim sent the crowd into a frenzy when he broke the world record in the first leg of the race, setting his team up for victory.
Speaking at Drew Barrymore and Wanderlust’s True North event in Sydney, Klim detailed the mental toll the difficult diagnosis took.
Along with Ian Thorpe, Chris Fydler and Ashley Callus, Klim took home the gold medal, while the previously undefeated Americans took silver.
Speaking about Friday’s historic achievement, Klim described the world-famous moment as one of the biggest challenges of his swimming career.
“That was the biggest challenge we could have had, facing the Americans, who have never lost the event,” he shared.
Klim, who won six Olympic medals at three Games, admitted he overthought his career and turned to meditation to focus on his races.
“I was thinking too much; I was replaying the race in my mind 100 times or more,” he shared.
The highly regarded athlete retired from competitive swimming in 2007 and runs a successful swimming school in Bali.
He moved to Indonesia with his girlfriend Michelle after being first diagnosed with CIDP and is now an Australian Red Cross Lifeblood ambassador.