Australia head swimming coach Rohan Taylor decided that Michael Palfrey will be allowed to stay in Paris for the Olympics despite an ongoing controversy. However, the assistant coach will face “consequences” for his actions upon his return to the Land Down Under.
There is too much work to be done for Palfrey to be sent home right now.
The eight Australian swim coaches under Taylor’s guidance are already spread thin. To eliminate an extra assistant with events getting underway on Saturday would be detrimental to success and the axe was spared as a result of circumstance.
Palfrey is in hot water for being “un-Australian.” He provided independent consulting services to numerous South Korean swimmers prior to the Olympics, including 400-meter freestyle champion Kim Woo-min.
Although the outside coaching went against Team Australia’s requests, the real issue was his comments upon arrival to France.
Australia has two legitimate gold-medal contenders in the 400 Free. Sam Short and Elijah Winnington will have to beat Woo-min.
Palfrey told Korean television that he hopes they don’t.
“I think it’s going to come down to that last 100 meters. We need Woo-Min to lift, that’s what I’ll be saying to him. He’s got to race tough. I really hope he can win but ultimately I really hope he swims well.”
— Michael Palfrey
The Australian assistant concluded his interview with “go Korea” while wearing his Dolphins gear. Taylor was not thrilled, obviously, but his hands are tied.
“I’m very critical of [Palfrey]. I believe it was a very bad error of judgement and the consequences for that will be coming in the future when we get back home. But for the nine days of our competition, my job is to make a call around the wellbeing and the performance environment and that’s what I’ve done. And it comes down to coaching loads, athlete loads.”
— Rohan Taylor
Australian coaches were given “guidelines” about independent consulting in March. They were told to end any association with non-Aussie swimmers before the Games. Palfrey obviously did not do so.
Team Australia met online and presented him with an opportunity to apologize. He did so profusely.
Taylor made sure that Palfrey knew he is angry with his “really silly error of judgement” that caused him to lose some trust in his assistant and ultimately allowed him to stay. Former Australian swimmer Cate Campbell also said that the decision to keep the shifty swim coach at the Olympics stemmed from an athlete-led push. They are willing to move past his comments for sake of continuity before the biggest event in their sport. But punishment is coming down the road!