Coach Michael Pulperry, who faced backlash after sending warm words of encouragement to his former student Kim Woo-min (Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province) hoping for good results ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, has been fired from the Australian national team.
According to the Associated Press on the 6th (Korean time), Swimming Australia announced in an official statement that “Coach Pulperry was fired for breach of employment contract.”
The reason Coach Pulperry resigned from the Australian national team was because of the positive comments he made about Kim Woo-min just before the Olympics.
Coach Pulperry met with the Korean management team, including Woo-Min Kim, at the La Defense Arena in Paris on July 23, ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, and also responded to interview requests from Korean reporters.
In an interview that lasted about 6 minutes and 30 seconds, he said, “The men’s 400m freestyle medal race that Kim Woo-min will compete in will be quite intense,” and “Based on what I’ve seen him train for so far, I think Kim Woo-min is on par with his competitors and can definitely win a medal.”
He continued, “I would be really proud if Kim Woo-min, (Australian athlete) Samuel Short, and Elijah Winnington all stand on the podium in the 400m freestyle. That would be the best-case scenario I could hope for,” he said with a smile.
Coach Pulperry highly evaluated Kim Woo-min’s potential, saying, “I hope Kim Woo-min can win, but ultimately, I hope he can swim well.” After the interview, he responded to the Korean press’s thanks by saying, “Go Korea.”
Coach Pulperry has a deep connection with Korean swimming. The Korean national team trained in Australia early this year and received high-level guidance from Coach Pulperry, and achieved the best results ever, including two gold medals and one silver medal at the 2024 Doha World Aquatics Championships.
Coach Pulperry especially cherished Kim Woo-min among the Korean players, and Kim Woo-min also followed Coach Pulperry closely, teaching him many things so that he could overcome his limitations. In the end, it was a message of support that came from a very human relationship, but it had a big impact.
The Australian media took issue with the fact that a local coach had made such a friendly remark about his strong rival, Kim Woo-min. Swimming Australia also reacted sharply, investigating the relationship between Coach Pulperry and Kim Woo-min.
Coincidentally, the ripple effect was even bigger when Woo-Min Kim won the bronze medal in the men’s 400m freestyle at the Paris Olympics by creating a miracle in lane 1.
Lucas Martens (Germany), who dominated from the start, took the gold medal, and Winnington took the silver medal. Short was pushed out by Woo-Min Kim and finished in fourth place.
As a result, Australia missed out on a medal in the men’s 400m freestyle due to Kim Woo-min, which left coach Pulperry with even more to worry about.
Swimming Australia emphasized the legitimacy of Coach Pulperry’s dismissal, saying, “Coach Pulperry’s interview has seriously damaged the reputation of Australian swimming and has had a negative impact.”
Coach Pufferi retained his coaching license without further disciplinary action.
(Seoul = News 1)
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2024-09-07 01:07:37