Australian Swim Coach Admits He's Pulling For A South Korean To Win Gold, Rightfully Gets Called Out

Published|Updated

A coach on staff with the Australian swimming team at the 2024 Olympics openly admitted that he is pulling for a South Korean swimmer to win gold in a race that will feature Aussies. He's since come under serious pressure and scrutiny from people in the Australian camp, and understandably so.

In an interview with South Korean television, coach Michael Palfrey said he was pulling for Kim Woo-min to claim gold in the men's 400-meter freestyle. Palfrey backing Kim isn't as random as it may seem as he has previously coached him. 

"I really hope he can win, but ultimately I really hope he swims well," Palfrey said. He added, "Go Korea."

If Palfrey would have said something along the lines of ‘I hope he swims well’ then nobody would have batted an eye. Instead, he flat-out said he hoped Kim would win the race and even threw in a "Go Korea" for good measure.

One Australian swimming coach openly admitted he's hoping for a South Korean to win a specific race, which has caused quite the stir. Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Palfrey's comments are both painful and wrong, and Australia's head swimming coach Rohan Taylor seems to feel the same way.

"Very disappointed. Extremely disappointed," Taylor said. "For a coach on our team to promote another athlete ahead of our athletes is not acceptable."

Taylor went on to call Palfrey's comments "un-Australian" and said that he may be sent home before the start of the swimming competition on Saturday.

"We confronted him with those details," Taylor said. "He owns that (mistake) and was taken to task for it. He’s very remorseful and we’re now dealing with it."

"It’s just very, very disappointing to me that one of our coaches promoted another athlete ahead of our athletes," Taylor continued. "That really is the thing that concerns me and disappoints me."

While Kim, the men's 400-meter freestyle world champion, will be among the favorites to win gold, Australia will feature each of the two previous world champions in the race with Sam Short (2023) and Elijah Winnington (2023).

Tags
Written by

Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.