How rumors of SCANDALOUS love triangle marred Australia's gold-medal swimming performance at CWG 2022

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Aussie star swimmer Emma McKeon, who bagged seven prestigious medals at the Tokyo Olympics, was in a relationship with fellow teammate Kyle Chalmers for a few months in 2021. The love affair between the two came into the spotlight in September 2021. However, the duo soon decided to part ways due to some personal reasons. 

Soon after their split, McKeon entered into a relationship with former popstar turned swimmer Cody Simpson. As per the reports, the couple, whose relationship became public in May 2022. The couple even moved in together during a training camp.

The lives of the three swim stars were running smoothly until exes McKeon and Chalmers joined Mollie O'Callaghan and William Zu Yang in the final of the 4x100m mixed medley relay at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre. However, the tiff between the exes was obvious when the Australian team became the only team not to raise their hands in unison before the race kicked off.

Despite bagging the gold medal, the Australian team's celebration was filled with drama and awkwardness after Chalmers decided to ignore Mckeon and did not shake her hand after winning on day one of the CWG.

Aussie sprinter William Yang and young gun Mollie O'Callaghan were quick to congratulate Mckeon but Chalmers was the only Australian team member who didn’t walk to the starting blocks to congratulate her after she finished off the relay victory by touching the tall. The duo didn’t even embrace each other during the TV interview and left the pool deck in a hurry. 

Now, the tension among these Australian team players has caused fear among the team. The team fears that the tiff caused by the love triangle is going to harm the performance of the swim team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The followers of the team are sure that the matter is going to become worse for Chalmers as McKeon's new flame Cody Simpson is also in Birmingham to compete at the games.

The Australian team officials first noticed this tension at the national trails back in April when Chalmers was accused of kicking Simpson out of the team when he announced he would take up 50m butterfly at the Commonwealth Games. Ignoring the tension, both Aussie stars eventually secured their spot on the team in the 50m butterfly but shockingly failed to make it to the finals.

Replying to the criticism after being accused of quashing Simpson's, Chalmers turned on the media saying the criticism had made him seriously reconsider his future in the sport. "In every other sport, people say they have mental health problems and people jump on board and want to support them," he said. "[In] swimming, everyone still wanted to roast me. I go back home to Port Lincoln, I come back to Adelaide and there are people taking photos of me saying 'Kyle resurfaces'," he added.