An Australian Olympic swim coach who wants a star South Korean athlete to defeat the Dolphins will remain at the Paris Games despite widespread anger at his comments.
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Swimming Australia head coach Rohan Taylor says coach Michael Palfrey will face "consequences" for his inflammatory comments when the Paris Games finish.
But Taylor said given the workloads on eight Australian swim coaches under his guidance at the Olympics, Palfrey would remain in Paris.
Palfrey told Korean television he hoped South Korea's Kim Woo-min wins the men's 400m freestyle in Paris.
Australia have two genuine gold-medal contenders, Sam Short and Elijah Winnington, in the event to be contested on Saturday's opening day of swimming competition in Paris.
"I really hope he can win but ultimately I really hope he swims well," Palfrey told Korean media, before ending the interview by saying: "Go Korea."
Taylor described the comments as "un-Australian" but decided Palfrey will stay in Paris.
"I came to the decision that the best situation for the team is for Michael Pelfrey to stay with the team for the next nine days," Taylor told reporters on Thursday night in Paris.
"We just had an online team meeting where .. Michel apologised profusely for his mistake.
"I'm very critical of him.
"I believe it was a very bad error of judgment and the consequences for that will be coming in the future when we get back home.
"But for the nine days of our (swimming) 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."
Australia's Olympic chef de mission Anna Meares earlier Thursday said Palfrey's comments were "a conflict and a serious error of judgment".
"He is very aware and very sorry for what has occurred," Meares told reporters, adding the Australian Olympic Committee would support Taylor's decision.
Palfrey works with Australian swimmers Zac Incerti, Abbey Connor and Alex Perkins.
He has also mentored South Korean swimmers including Kim, who won 400m freestyle at the world championships in Qatar in February.
Taylor said Australian coaches were given "guidelines" in March to end any association with non-Australian swimmers before the Paris Olympics.
And Taylor expressed disappointment at the furore just two days before the start of the Olympic swim meet.
"It has weighed heavily," Taylor said.
"I do a lot of work with the coaches, I trust the coaches extensively.
"They work extremely hard, the athletes work extremely hard, and we work really, really hard on being united.
"And to have somebody make a really silly error of judgment, and not really think about the team at that time was disappointing for me.
"And so from that perspective, I was angry and I made sure that he knew that."
Australian Associated Press
