Kyle Chalmers reveals his AFL dream — and how he plans to quit swimming

[Glasgow]

Olympic swimming gold medallist Kyle Chalmers will consider quitting the sport in a bid to fulfil his dream as an AFL footballer.

The reigning 100m Olympic champion wants to play AFL after the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The man dubbed “an accidental swimming star”, whose father Brett played 75 games for Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows, has long dreamt of playing at elite level.

The 194cm-tall, 95kg athlete revealed his plan for the first time on Sunday in Stellarmagazine and said he had discussions with his long-time swim coach Peter Bishop about the switch.

“It’s something I would love to do and because it is my dream — I would give absolutely everything to see if that dream would take off,” Chalmers said.

“I know how hard it can be to be an athlete in regards to training and commitment. I think I’ve got that background knowledge in it and if there was a sniff I could play AFL football, I’d train all day every day to see if I could get drafted firstly.”

Chalmers, a Power supporter, said he wouldn’t want to be one of those guys to get picked up “just for attention for a club” or “just a list filler”.

“It would be hard for me to go from being at the top of the swimming world to potentially being a rookie on a footy list,” Chalmers said.

“There’d be a big shock but I’d do everything I could and give everything up to pursue that dream because it has been a dream of mine since I was small.”

Though he is not motivated by money — and didn’t raise the subject — the average wage for an AFL footballer is $371,000.

Under the Georgina Hope Foundation support scheme, Australia’s top-tier swimmers receive $26,000 a year.