South Aussie Olympic Silver and Bronze medallist Kyle Chalmers will be welcomed home at meet and greet this weekend at Westfield Marion.
Chalmers claimed a historic ninth Olympic medal in his third straight Olympics. In Australia’s most successful olympic campaign with 18 golds, Kyle took home the Gold in the 4x100m freestyle, the 100m freestyle silver and the 4x100m mixed medley bronze.
He was born in Port Lincoln to the son of former Port Adelaide premiership player Brett Chalmers, later moving to Adelaide to attend Immanuel College.
Competing as a 15-year-old at his first senior international swimming championships, the 2014 Oceania Swimming Championships in NZ, he stunned crowds as he won the gold medal in the 50-metre butterfly with a time of 24.35 seconds, finishing three-tenths of a second ahead of silver medalist, Nielsen Vary from New Zealand. Currently, he holds the Oceanian and Australian record in the short course 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle.
The 26 year old continues to impress over a decade into his career. At his first Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Chalmers became the first Australian to win the gold medal in the 100 metre freestyle since Michael Wenden in 1968.
Chalmers battled numerous injuries in the lead up to qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which included undergoing surgery to his shoulder as well as his heart. He set an Oceanian record and Australian record in the 50m freestyle at 20.74 seconds between surgeries.
Mayor of Marion, Kris Hanna calls Kyle a local legend!
“He is one of the few people that Marion Council has honoured with the key to the city and is an inspiration to hundreds of our local swimmers,” Mayor Hanna said.
Westfield is a proud Team Partner of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic Teams. This is the first of the 37 nation-wide official Live Sites – where customers can tune into Paris with dedicated livestreams and take part in free Olympic and themed events, live music and more.
WHAT: ‘Welcome Home’ meet and greet with Olympic medallist, Kyle Chalmers
WHEN: Saturday 31 August from 12pm
WHERE: Westfield Marion Live Site: Centre Court on Level 1, near Pandora
MORE INFO: To find out more about Westfield’s Olympic partnership and official Live Sites, visit www.westfield.com.au
More News
