Olympics 2024 | Australian coach in trouble for talking up rival

Paris: Australian Olympic officials have admonished one of the team's coaches for saying he hopes a South Korean swimmer he works with can beat his Australian rivals in the 400 metres freestyle when the meet starts on Saturday.

Michael Palfrey told South Korean media that he hoped world champion Kim Woo-min would win gold in the event, where Australia's Sam Short and Elijah Winnington are also contenders.

Olympic swimming coaches are often freelancers who work with multiple nations' swimmers.

"There will be three or four of them in the race that think they can win it," the media reports quoted Palfrey as saying.

"I think it’s going to come down to that last 100 metres.

"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.”

Palfrey was hauled before Olympic team officials and rebuked in an Australian Olympic Committee statement for making a "serious error of judgement".

Team chef de mission Anna Meares said Palfrey's comments were a "surprise and a shock" and that she and head swimming coach Rohan Taylor had addressed the remarks with him.

"I think it's fair to appreciate the conversation is confidential at this stage. But what I can say that he is very aware and very sorry for what has occurred," she told reporters on Thursday.

"But the fact that he's commented about the athlete winning against the Australian team, that's the bigger issue."

He remains with the team, Meares added, but may face further sanctions.

"Rohan Taylor will be having those conversations after training finishes today in order not to disrupt the athletes' schedule and to allow those athletes the ability to focus on what they came here to do," she said.

"Clearly whatever decision is made will be about the best interests of the athletes from a high-performance perspective and from a wellbeing perspective."