In Paris, the women’s 400 metres freestyle final will be one of the Games’ most anticipated races: not least for world-record holder Ariarne Titmus.
Interview: Sydney and Brisbane, via zoom linkAt every Olympic Games, there are a handful of moments that are, really, the point of the whole thing. Moments that force us away from the TV to walk around the house, put the kettle on, do the washing up – because the tension of witnessing an athlete funnel a lifetime of desire into a performance decided by a fraction of a second is almost too thrilling, and too awful, to bear.
She laughs. “And I do too, but I also don’t mind it. It’s quite therapeutic. You’re just at one with yourself, just focusing on your stroke. And I think maybe that was the first drawcard. I just always loved the sport, even when I was really, really young.” Titmus, 14, with her family at the 2015 Age Nationals in Sydney, having won golds in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle fi nals.In 2015, still only 14, Titmus swam again at the Age Championships and won three gold medals . As a result, she was one of the youngest swimmers selected for the Australian World Juniors team in Singapore. “We were faced with a dilemma,” explains Robyn. “The World Juniors were in August, and she didn’t have a coach.
The pair has since become one of swimming’s great double-acts: the sunny, blue-eyed Titmus and the wild-haired, wildly passionate Boxall. Boxall hasn’t given any interviews to the swimming media for some time, but he’s awesome to talk to, because he only has one way of communicating: intensely.
This was seen by the international swimming community as hubris – how dare this kid try to challenge the big stars when she couldn’t follow through? After Tokyo, Titmus got the word “Fearless” tattooed on her right foot – the foot that’s the last thing she sees when she dives. She wanted a reminder, she says, that she – and Boxall – had been right all along. “If we’d listened to those people,” she says, “I don’t know whether I’d be in this position now.”Since the Olympics, both Titmus and Boxall have become, in their own ways, celebrities.
O’Callaghan, who came second last week by 0.25 seconds, is also trained by Boxall, as were three other swimmers in the trials race. Having direct competitors in the same squad might sound odd, but as Boxall has explained of his top pair: “Mollie knows that Arnie’s the benchmark. And Arnie knows that Mollie is hunting. So it’s simple.
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