Ariarne Titmus, a standout swimmer for Australia, claimed that the continuing love triangle between her teammates is emotionally impacting the team.
Despite conflicts involving pop star-turned-swimmer Cody Simpson, Kyle Chalmers, and Emma McKeon, Ms. Titmus stated the Australian swim squad was able to “have each other’s backs” at the Commonwealth Games.
When The Project questioned Ms. Titmus about whether or not the love triangle affected the team’s performance, she responded, “We all hear about it and it’s impacting our teammates therefore it impacts us emotionally.”
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‘I think we try to block it out you know; we’re such a close unit and we want to have each other’s backs and I think we did that this week.
‘We want everyone to be happy and not go through those things so I think it did affect us but we certainly got through it.’
Emma McKeon, a seven-medal winner in the Olympics in Tokyo, dated Kyle Chalmers for a brief period of time in 2017.
Just weeks before the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, McKeon and Cody Simpson, who joined the national swim squad in May, made their relationship official in July.
Australia’s experience at the Commonwealth Games has been marred by rumors of resentment among the team, and the triangle members have only served to fan the flames.
The fact that Chalmers and McKeon didn’t link hands before the race or shake hands after it during the 4×100-meter mixed medley relay immediately caught the attention of spectators.
Chalmers’ omission of McKeon and fellow female squad member Mollie O’Callaghan from his reflection on the team only made things worse.
‘It is (a bit different swimming in the middle) but it’s still against the boys, right?’ he said.
‘You are still racing against those fastest boys, anyway, so it doesn’t feel that much different.’
Back in April, Chalmers was accused of attempting to force Simpson off the swim team.
Chalmers declared during selections that he intended to participate in Simpson’s event—the 50-meter butterfly—at the Commonwealth Games.
Chalmers and Simpson were both eligible for the competition but were unable to advance to the Birmingham finals.