Swimming Australia on Friday sacked a member of its Olympic coaching staff, saying he caused serious reputational damage by supporting a rival South Korean athlete racing against his countrymen. Coach Michael Palfrey caused a stir when he said he hoped Kim Woo-min — who he coached at one point — would win the men’s 400m freestyle instead of two Australians. Head coach Rohan Taylor said Palfrey’s actions were “un-Australian”, but the team did not sack him at the time because it would be too disruptive.

“Swimming Australia has terminated Michael Palfrey’s employment due to a breach of his employment agreement,” governing body Swimming Australia said Friday.

“Palfrey was found to have breached his employment contract by bringing himself into disrepute and causing serious damage to his and Swimming Australia’s reputation, and adversely affecting Swimming Australia’s interests.”

Palfrey worked with Australian swimmers Zac Incerti, Abbey Connor and Alex Perkins.

But he also mentored South Korea’s Kim while he was training in Brisbane ahead of the Games.

Palfrey was wearing Australian team colours when he was interviewed by South Korean journalists and asked about Kim.

“I really hope he can win, but ultimately I really hope he swims well,” Palfrey said.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was surrounded by controversy in the recently-concluded Paris Olympics 2024. The pugilist won a gold medal in the women’s 66kg category at the Games but the path to the glory was really a tough one for Khelif. She saw questions being raised over her gender whenever she won a boxing bout. The criticism continued but Khelif didn’t let all that impact her performance and clinched the top honour at the event in Paris. While the debate over her gender row continues to gain prominance, Indian actress Taapsee Pannu gave a debate-stirring verdict. While speaking about the Olympics gender row, as per ANI, Taapsee said that there is no fault of any athlete if he or she is born with some higher level of testosterone.

“I played a role on that subject. I did a film called ‘Rashmi Rocket’ which was about a female athlete being banned because she was detected with a high level of testosterone. So, I played this role. I mean we presented our views and that’s why you know I think the beauty of the kind of films I get is sometimes I get my films to talk about the muddas (issues) that I personally believe in without making a statement outside,” said the actress.

‘Rashmi Rocket’ is a movie about a young girl runner from a small village who becomes a national athlete. She wins accolades for the country but her life takes a turn when she’s called in for a gender verification test.

“That was a film that I spoke about where I played the athlete. And it is not in my control what my hormones are. It’s not like I’ve taken supplements. It’s not like I’ve injected any hormones. It’s just I was born with it. Our argument in the film was that there are so many athletes who are born with an edge over others. Like Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, all these people are also born with a certain biological edge over others. Why are they not banned?

“And why only someone who has a higher level of testosterone is banned? If she has taken injections for this particular competition, then, of course, it should be illegal and she should be banned. But if she is not, then by something that is not in her control, you’ve banned her. So that’s the character that I played in the film as well. So that was my statement.”