- Kyle Chalmers was a talented AFL junior player
- He chose to pursue a career as an Olympic swimmer.
- In 2020, Geelong approached him about switching sports.
Australian swimming king Kyle Chalmers has sensationally revealed he may have quit swimming and joined the Geelong Cats.
Chalmers, 26, was a promising youth soccer player in South Australia, but never really considered a career pursuing Sherrin.
Until 2020.
With the Tokyo Olympics postponed due to the Covid pandemic, Chalmers was battling a shoulder injury.
Then he was told out of the blue that Geelong was keen to chat.
“A mate of mine, Scotty Darlow, spoke to me and said, ‘(Former Cats Talent ID manager) Troy Selwood really wants to talk to you about going to Geelong,'” three-time Olympian Chalmers told the Howie Games Podcast.
‘And I thought, this has to be a joke. But I’ll sit down and do it, whatever, I’ll do the Zoom call.
“And I went on Zoom and did this two-hour recruitment to go to Geelong as a Category B rookie, and if I was going to do that it had to be after the Olympics in 2021, otherwise I’d be too old.”
Australian swimming king Kyle Chalmers has sensationally revealed he may have quit swimming and joined the Geelong Cats.
Chalmers (pictured with fiancée Ingeborg Loyning) was a promising junior soccer player in South Australia, but never considered a career pursuing Sherrin until a Zoom call in 2020.
Three-time Olympian Chalmers now admits playing AFL football was probably unlikely
A young Kyle Chalmers after winning the men’s 100m freestyle final at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Chalmers, whose father Brett played in the AFL for Adelaide and Port Adelaide, at the time seriously considered ditching his glasses and swimming cap.
Until close teammate Sam Jacobs, on the Crows’ books at the time, highlighted that Chalmers was unlikely to ever play senior football.
‘Sauce’ (Jacobs) actually put it to me and said, ‘Well, do you really want to go from being No. 1 or No. 2 in the world in your sport to being No. 45 on an AFL list and probably never? play? A game?
“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s actually a very good point, you’re right.'”
“So that’s when the dream, the bubble, just burst, and I said, ‘You know what? I actually love swimming, I love being one of the best swimmers in the world.’
“I love my lifestyle, I love the opportunities that traveling the world has given me, so fill it with football.”
Selwood admitted it was a bold move and is convinced Chalmers made the right decision.
Chalmers, 26, also does not rule out an appearance at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.