Rio de Janeiro:Â Australian head swim coach Jacco Verhaeren wasn't always sure if gold medal winner Kyle Chalmers would be a sensation in the pool, but he knew AFL wasn't capable of catapulting him to stardom.
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Who is Kyle Chalmers?
Kyle Chalmers' dad proud as punch
Brett Chalmers was cheering so loudly as he son won the 100m freestyle that he can now barley speak.
Fresh off Chalmers' incredible triumph in the 100 metre freestyle on Wednesday night, Verhaeren has opened up about the conversation with the 18-year-old in which he told him he had to make a choice between pursuing an AFL career or his Olympics dream.
But was Chalmers always destined to become a global sensation?
"You never know, but if you play AFL, you're sure you're not," Verhaeren said.
The ultimatum Verhaeren put to Chalmers came after the South Australian broke his wrist and tore ankle ligaments playing Australian rules for his school team two months out from the world titles in Russia last year.
"There's a certain point in your career when you have to choose," Verhaeren said.
"Where you say you can't keep doing both. Of course he's passionate about AFL but what I once said – and I'm not sure I told him to be honest but it was going through my mind – do you want to be an AFL domestic star, or do you want to be a world star? I'm happy he chose the second one."
While Chalmers recovered from the football injuries in time for the Kazan world championships, he has been banned from playing any level of Australian rules by the national swim team.
Chalmers takes a Sherrin with him on the road and kicks the ball before swim meets as relaxation, but his decision to give up on following in the footsteps of his father Brett, who played 25 AFL games, paid dividends on Wednesday night when he claimed his maiden gold medal.
"It's too big of a risk, and at some point, either way, you can't combine these two sports with each other," Verhaeren said.
"There are some other requirements you need to play AFL, as opposed to swimming. For example, you need flexible ankles [for swimming], which is not great for playing AFL anyway. At some point you need to chose. I think it's great he played the game because he no doubt had some benefits from developing who he is as well.
"I think it's very special [winning the 100 metre freestyle]. In the Netherlands we call it the 'kings' event because of what it is. I think you see the same in athletics. It's a very prestigious event."
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