Kyle Chalmers reveals the moment he hit ‘rock bottom’ as rumours swirled about love triangle with Cody Simpson and ex Emma McKeon
- Kyle Chalmers has opened up about hitting rock bottom
- The swimmer struggled during the Commonwealth Games
- He found himself in the middle of a love triangle
Kyle Chalmers has revealed he almost quit swimming amid the love triangle saga that engulfed the Australian team, insisting the ordeal left him at rock bottom.
Last year, Chalmers was in the eye of a media storm over his involvement in a love triangle with ex-girlfriend Emma McKeon and fellow swimmer Cody Simpson.
The 25-year-old world champion’s backflip – in which he reversed his decision to skip Budapest, denying Simpson a place on the team – resulted in accusations that his decision was not purely based on swimming.
The story did not disappear during the Commonwealth Games, where all three swimmers competed for Australia in Birmingham, and Chalmers says he spent the hours leading up to his 100m freestyle race crying in his hotel room.
“It’s a sport I love.” he told A Current Affair. “But I was in a very, very dark place.
Kyle Chalmers has told how he hit rock bottom during the Commonwealth Games
Chalmers found herself in the eye of a love triangle storm involving Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson
‘Think about that. I asked myself, “Why am I even doing this? Why?”
“Last year in particular, I think the low point was probably just at the Commonwealth Games. While I was just in my room, getting all prepared for the finals, I was crying in my room.
‘We’re at a university, so it’s quite an old building. “What am I, what am I here for?”
Chalmers previously revealed he had written a retirement statement in the middle of his battle and wanted to play local footy in Australia instead.
“It was very, very stressful,” Chalmers told the Soda Room podcast. “I wanted to say, I’m done now – I’m going to stay in Port Lincoln and play country footy.”
He added that any suggestion he would keep Simpson out of the team for Budapest was ‘absolute c**p’, but it was not until the Commonwealth Games that he hit an all-time low.
“We just broke the Commonwealth record and won gold… and they just stopped,” he says. ‘Not a single question about swimming… It was all complete nonsense, this so-called feud. There was no feud whatsoever.”
Chalmers said he cried in his hotel room during the game