For most of us it is hard to imagine what it feels like to win Olympic gold. It is also difficult to imagine what it is like to have one of our family members hit the wall first at the Olympic Games. Thanks to having a camera in their home while watching their grandsons race we can share the experience that Kyle Chalmers grandparents had when watching him win the men’s 100 freestyle in Rio.
Their joy and the emotion is incredible to see as they witness their 18 year-old grandson take down 2012 Olympic gold medalist American Nathan Adrian and the favourite coming into Rio fellow Australian Cameron McEvoy.
Chalmers, who won the 50 and the 100 freestyle at the 2015 World Junior Championships, has seen some staggering improvement over the last year. He won the 100 freestyle in Singapore in a lifetime best of 48.47 and over the course of the year he has improved that time by almost a full second winning the 100 freestyle in Rio with a time of 47.58.
Chalmers also had an outstanding anchor leg as part of the bronze medal winning men’s 4 x 100 medley relay putting up the fastest split of 46.72 and coming close to catching the British team that won silver.
With the potential that the 18 year-old Chalmers has his grandparents are almost guaranteed to have more of these moments in the years to come.
Adorable. I, for one, fully support more grandma & grandpa cams.
Beautiful!
What a joy to watch his grandparents’ reaction! Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us.