it's a story that has sent shock waves through the world of Australian swimming Michael pulfrey a longtime coach with swimming Australia has seen his career take a sudden and dramatic turn after his contract was terminated due to a controversy stemming from his support for a South Korean swimmer at the Paris Olympics PA Frey's words of encouragement for South Korea's Kim Wu Min during the men's 400 meter freestyle event ignited a firestorm ultimately leading to his dismissal Paul freyy who had previously worked with Kim as an adviser made headlines when he publicly expressed his hope that the South Korean athlete would win the race I really hope he can win but ultimately I really hope he swims well pulfrey told South Korean media even adding Go Korea these comments innocent as they may seem carried far-reaching consequences especially since two Australian swimmers were competing in the same race swimming Australia confirmed in a statement to playful parade that paulf Frey's contract had been terminated ated citing a breach of his employment agreement the governing body stated that pulfrey had brought serious damage to both his and swimming Australia's reputation adding that his actions had negatively affected the organization's interests CEO Rob Woodhouse announced that paulf Frey's employment ended effective immediately and the process to find his successor for the USC Spartan swim team was already underway while Paul Frey may have lost his coaching position swimming Australia confirmed that he would retain his coaching accreditation status playful parade reached out to the University of the Sunshine Coast where pulfrey had served as head coach of the high performance swim team but they have yet to comment on the matter pulfrey himself has remained silent refraining from making any public statement since the controversy unfolded in the end Kim Wan finished third in the 400 meter freestyle final while Australia's Elijah Winnington secured second place and Sam Short came in fourth Germany's Lucas Martins took home the gold interestingly Winnington one of the athletes directly affected by paf's comments downplayed the issue telling playful parade that he couldn't care less about what pulfrey had said mix come and apologized I don't think he meant what he said he's a great guy a great coach Winnington explained obviously W trains with him but yeah he's come up to me and he knows that he didn't mean what he said at the end of the day it's just a comment and I'm just here to race as best as I can Australia Chef demission anamir also addressed the incident during the games describing paulf Frey's actions as a serious error of judgment she noted that pulfrey had fully understood the gravity of his comments after meeting with her and she aimed to minimize any disruption to Australian athletes during their Olympic preparations paf's career as a coach spans over a decade having made his debut in 2010 he worked with swimmers such as Zack and certy Abby Connor and Alex Perkins during the Paris Olympics now as the search for his replacement begins swimming Australia finds itself nav na gating The Fallout of a controversy that highlights the fine line coaches must walk when juggling professional and personal relationships with athletes across the globe become a part of the playful parade Community smash that like button drop a comment share with your friends and don't forget to subscribe road to 10,000 [Music] subscribers e