Michael Klim’s proud dad moment

Michael Klim was just 15 when he left home to chase his swimming dream.
Now, as a father of three children aged 18, 16, and 13, he looks back on this time with new-found appreciation.
“Well, I thought I was quite brave and I thought I was really resilient. But Adam Pine reminded me, and a few of the other guys, that I was on the phone to my parents very regularly in the hallway or in the staircase,” Klim tells 9honey.
“So I must have been a little bit homesick initially.”
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Klim has revisited his path to greatness in his memoir Klim, out now.
“It’s quite an interesting time because my son, he just turned 16 and he moved to boarding school,” Klim says.
“I was thinking I was around the same age [when] I actually decided to move out of home and go up to the Institute of Sport and really put all my eggs in one basket and follow my dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer.
“At that age, it’s an opportunity for kids or young adults to make certain choices in their life, and I’m really happy to see him take that next step.”
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Klim shares three children with ex-wife Lindy Klim – Stella, 18, Rocco, 16, and Frankie, 13.
By the time he was Stella’s age, he was at the 1996 Olympics “having some failures and learning from that.”
He admits to leaving “a few copies” of his book around the house.
“I’m hoping that when they get really bored they’ll pick it up,” he says.
His children have only recently started comprehending who the father is and his incredible feats.
They’ve lived the majority of their lives in Bali, with Klim travelling back and forth between Indonesia and Australia
However, his efforts to spend as much time as possible with his children was impacted by both the COVID pandemic and his autoimmune condition, which has seen him hospitalised for treatment.
He says he feels he’s just now making up for lost time. Each of his children has shown sporting prowess outside of the pool.
“Roc is very much into basketball, and that’s one of the reasons he moved to Victoria from Bali, to see if he can make a rep team and continue,” Klim says.
“He’s grown tremendously over the last year or so. He’s got the physique and the ability, so he just has to now put in the work.”
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Stella loves equestrian sports and surfing, and Frankie “pretty much can do anything she likes.”
“She likes a bit of silks and a bit of gymnastics and also equestrian,” Klim proudly shares.
“I just wanted to see them take on something and really see it through and give themselves an opportunity.
“I’m proud to see that Rocco’s made that choice and Stella’s now getting into some professional development and life after school, whatever they do, as long as they really give it give themselves a chance.”
Klim’s own achievements are vast. He set the world record in the 100 metre butterfly twice in 1999 in a FINA-sanctioned time trial.
He was the Australian Institute of Sport Athlete of the Year in 1998 and 1999 and was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sports’ Best of the Best’ in 2001.
Klim was also the only Aussie to win gold at both the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
He retired from competitive swimming in 2007 and again in 2012.
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“I mean, obviously, time does fly but I’m just so fortunate to have been part of that that era where we had some amazing athletes that will live in our folklore forever, in Ian Thorpe and Glenn Hackett and Kieran Perkins and Susie O’Neill,” he says.
“It was interesting because I certainly suppressed some memories, the ones that weren’t so great, especially when it came to swimming, but it was certainly nice to reconnect with a bunch of mates … Ian [Thorpe] was part of it and Brett Hawke and Adam Pine.
“A lot of those guys contributed in helping me remember some of those key moments.”
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