A video of Hayley Lewis pushing her son to victory has gone viral. This is the story behind the video.
What a beautiful swimming story: Kai Taylor is one of the following swimming talents. A few weeks ago, the 19-year-old swam the 200m freestyle in 1:46.65 to win the Australian Championships. Now Taylor is looking to qualify for her first major international competition at the World Championship Trials in Melbourne until Sunday. As a national champion, it really should be a formality. But as often happens in swimming, when one thing seems certain, it turns out otherwise. So Taylor swam only the ninth-fastest time of 1:48.37 minutes, his 200m lead – a first world championship dream and a world championship medal by relay. He later said it was a moment of deep disappointment and many tears.
But then Taylor got a surprise text message from superstar Kyle Chalmers. The 100m Olympic champion also competed in the 200m and set the best time of all participants at 1:46.97 minutes. But then Chalmers decided to focus entirely on his parade route. The 24-year-old withdrew from the 200m and told Taylor he would be in the final.
Viral hit: Kai Taylor is cheered on by his mother
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Dyer took his chance. Swimming on the outside of the eighth lane, he put all his emotions into this race. After 50 meters he was half a second ahead of the other finalists. He eventually won in 1:46.25 ahead of Alexander Graham (1:46.68) and Thomas Neal (1:46.82). While in the pool, Taylor excitedly raved about her coup. Although he missed Australia’s World Cup standard by 19 centuries. But with only the 4 × 200m relay, there will be no way around him in the nomination.
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Now comes Taylor’s mom, who used to be a swimmer. In the 1990s, Hayley Lewis won several medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships. “Yes, my mother is here. I see her in the stands. Now she’s the one crying,” Guy Taylor said into the hall announcer’s microphone after his 200-meter victory. And: “Usually she lets me do my thing, but this time she told me eight big things could happen on the track.”
Hayley Lewis should know. She herself won the world championship title at the same distance in Perth in 1991 at the age of 16 when she swam the eighth lane. According to “Swimming World”, he already agreed with his coach not to go to the finals after a weak lead. After one night, the coach changed his mind and convinced the swimmer to start. The rest is history: Lewis won the heat by more than two seconds and took gold ahead of Janet Evans (USA) and Denmark’s Med Jacobsen.
Video: Hayley Lewis wins gold in the 200m freestyle at the 1991 World Championships
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At the world championships in Fukuoka, Kai Taylor is swimming for her first world championship medals where her mother ended her amazing career 16 years ago. After five World Championship medals at five different distances (200 and 400 freestyle, 200 m butterfly and 400 m individual medley in Perth in 1991 and 800 m freestyle in Rome in 1994), she won bronze in the 5 km open water in Japan in 2001.
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