Commonwealth Games: Johanna Griggs’ brutal verdict on Kyle Chalmers

Channel Seven sports presenter Johanna Griggs says Kyle Chalmers is his own worst  enemy when it comes to negative press coverage, after the talented swimmer lashed out at ‘false news’ during a Commonwealth Games press conference on Saturday.

Chalmers, 24, furiously threatened to quit the sport after a journalist suggested there was a ‘love triangle’ among the ranks of the Australian swimming team involving him, his ex-girlfriend Emma McKeon and her new partner Cody Simpson.

He dated McKeon, 28, for a short time last year before the pair broke up and McKeon moved on with Simpson, 25. The three swimmers are now competing in Birmingham.

Griggs, 48, a retired competitive swimmer and former tabloid fixture herself, said Chalmers was ‘feeding the media’ and making the rumoured feud a ‘bigger story’ by reacting so angrily to questions about his private life.

She also noted that McKeon and Simpson were not allowing themselves to be distracted by the gossip.

‘The only person who is going to potentially derail – although it certainly didn’t look it this morning in his 100 metre freestyle – could be Kyle himself. He seems to be feeding it,’ Griggs said on Triple M Breakfast with MG, Jess & Pagey.

She continued: ‘It is the ironic thing with all these sorts of situations. You can’t just expect the headlines to always be great.

‘You have to accept that occasionally, sometimes, they are going to be about other people and that sometimes that might not necessarily show you in the same light.’

Griggs said she hopes Chalmers stops ‘feeding’ the media cycle, because his public outbursts are only leading to more headlines.

‘I am kind of hoping that Kyle stops feeding it. I get that he is feeling incredibly swamped at the moment and that he is not coping with it,’ she said.

‘But every time he mentions it, he makes it a bigger story.’

Rumours of a rift between Chalmers and Simpson have dominated the back pages in the lead-up to last month’s world championships and have been the main talking point surrounding the Australian team’s success at the Commonwealth Games so far.

Speaking at a press conference in Birmingham after winning gold on Saturday, Chalmers threatened to quit swimming if ‘false news’ continued to circulate that he was in a feud with Simpson and former flame McKeon.

‘It’s all just false news that is actually just crap. It’s honestly just a load of s**t that is not true,’ he said. 

He also denied rumours of a rift with McKeon following their awkward chemistry during the 4x100m freestyle mixed relay on Friday.

Australia was the only nation not to hold hands and raise them in unison pre-race, while Chalmers was the only teammate who was not seen shaking McKeon’s hand following their win.

He denied any suggestion he did not congratulate his ex following the victory. 

‘Did you watch the whole race? I said congratulations and we [McKeon] stood here right alongside you guys and spoke last night,’ he said.

‘I find that really hard to believe that I didn’t say congratulations after the race. I actually walked up and said “good job” across the pool. 

‘We all said congratulations, we all did what we had to do and it’s an honour to be part of that team last night and win the first gold medal in the race at the Commonwealth Games and to do it with Australia’s most successful Olympian and now Australia’s most successful Commonwealth Games athlete is special.’

Chalmers said he has a good relationship with Simpson and texted him congratulations after the Australian men’s 4x100m freestyle team win on Saturday. 

‘I said good luck to Cody, I said good job to Cody, I sent him a message after the race,’ he said.

‘I do nothing but be as positive as I possibly can. I support him on the team but, again, people just want clickbait on the article.

‘It’s unfortunate that I can’t do anything right at this point in time.

‘I think it’s fantastic that he’s here… it’s fantastic for our sport, it brings new viewers in. What he has achieved in two years of swimming is incredible.’

At the national trials back in April, Chalmers announced he would take up 50m butterfly for the Commonwealth Games – the same event that Simpson was attempting to qualify for. 

Some spectators felt Chalmers was perhaps trying to deliberately quash the dreams of Simpson, a successful pop star whose return to the pool after he was a child prodigy in Queensland has seen him become a cause célèbre.

After qualifying for the semi-finals of the men’s 100m freestyle on Sunday night, Chalmers revealed just how draining the previous 24 hours had been from a psychological standpoint.

‘It’s hard, it’s hard for me to stand up and swim this morning,’ he told Seven in an emotional interview.

‘It’s probably one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to face. I think media don’t realise, as I said on Instagram, how much impact [reporting] has on athletes and [their] mental health.

‘For me it took all my courage and all my energy just to stand behind the blocks and swim this morning.

‘It’s not something that I wanted to do, it’s not something that I wanted to go through, to be honest with you, I’ve been so excited for this moment for such a long period of time and been working hard to be here for such a long time.’

He reiterated that rumours of a frosty relationship between him and Simpson – and the attention the media had given to alleged friction in the swimming team – had led him to consider quitting the sport.

‘For how it’s unfolded, yeah, definitely makes me question my future in the sport,’ he added.

‘I mean, I didn’t enter the sport to have to deal with something like that. I stand there and get interviewed for 20 minutes probably and not one thing was spoken about how we broke the Commonwealth record and won the gold medal last night, not one thing about that.

‘So for me it’s heartbreaking.

‘I have no reason to even stop and talk to media. I just do it to make people happy. Now it’s about voicing how the truth is and my actual feelings, but, yeah, I do and will consider what is next for me now.’

Chalmers also said the negative attention had taken a toll on his teammates and stolen the spotlight from their achievements, accusing the media of ‘ruining it for us all’.