2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist Kyle Chalmers says his silver medal performance at Tokyo 2020 was just as satisfying due to what he overcame in the lead-up to the games.
The Australian 100 metre freestyle star came just short of claiming gold from lane seven in Japan, finishing 0.06 seconds behind the winner American Caeleb Dressel.
With Dressel needing to set an Olympic record to keep the South Australian at bay, Chalmers says there was nothing more he could have possibly done to beat him due to the injury woes he encountered before jetting off to his second games.
“It is easy to say I came up just short of winning gold,” Chalmers said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“But I think for me I look at it and I reflect on it and go, ‘Well that was my gold medal’.
“I swam a personal best time in the Olympic final, I was half a second faster than what I was five years earlier in Rio.
“I was swimming against probably one of the best swimmers the world has ever seen in Caeleb Dressel.
“To swim so fast, be so close to that world record - Caeleb had to do an Olympic record to beat me – there’s nothing more that I possibly could have done on the day to get myself over the line.”
Chalmers’ preparation wasn’t ideal to say the least, and he explained some of the concerns around his health that he had to overcome just to make it on the plane to Tokyo.
“I know that it had been a very tough preparation … in the seven months prior to the games I had a shoulder surgery done … since Rio I've had two heart surgeries, I think I’ve had about 14 cortisones in my left shoulder … I’ve had so many injury setbacks … so for me just getting back to that Olympic games was good enough,” Chalmers explained.
“To win that silver medal was a gold medal win in my eyes, it was one of my proudest achievements to date.”
Chalmers has continued his sparkling form since the games, setting a new world record in the short-course 100 metre freestyle.
His time of 44.84 seconds in a FINA World Cup meet in Kazan, Russia was 0.10 seconds quicker than the previous record set by France’s Amauary Leveaux in 2008.