- The 20-year-old took victory in the women’s 200-meter freestyle
- She and Titmus are trained by Dean Boxall.
- Their close relationship was evident in Paris.
Mollie O’Callaghan showed she’s as classy out of the water as she is in it by having a sweet gesture towards teammate Ariarne Titmus after beating her to gold in the women’s 200m freestyle in Paris.
The 20-year-old thwarted Titmus’ bid to become the only swimmer in Olympic history to successfully defend her Olympic titles in both the 200m and 400m freestyle, saying Tuesday morning that she was not competing for herself.
The two swimmers hugged each other while still in the pool after the thrilling race, in which O’Callaghan took an early lead and then fought hard in the final lap to break the Olympic record.
As they took their places on the podium to receive their medals, O’Callaghan invited Titmus to join her on the top step of the podium and the two embraced as they shared the spotlight while the national anthem played.
“It’s a great honour for… Arnie, she’s a real expert,” O’Callaghan said after the contest.
‘She runs like a beast and it’s an honour to train alongside her and have such a great team around us.
“It was an incredible race… I did it for the country, I didn’t do it for myself.”
Asked how she recovered from being outclassed by Titmus at the Australian trials last month (where the Tasmanian broke the world record), O’Callaghan said she used the defeat as fuel.
O’Callaghan invited his friend and training partner Titmus to the top of the podium in a classy gesture after winning gold in the 200m freestyle.
Titmus was delighted with her fellow Australian, who said after the race that she used the pressure of beating the world record holder as fuel to overcome her nerves.
The world’s two fastest women wave to the crowd after the race.
“You have to accept the challenge… You can run or fight. I choose to fight.
“I always strive for more and always put a lot of pressure on myself. My expectations are very high.
“I always want something more. To be honest, I did it for the country, not for myself. I’m running for all these people.”
O’Callaghan, 20, clocked one minute and 53.27 seconds in Monday night’s final at Paris La Defense Arena, while Titmus (1:53.81) took the silver medal.
The win is O’Callaghan’s first individual Olympic gold medal, adding to his three relay golds – two at the Tokyo Games three years ago and the 4x100m freestyle in Paris on Saturday night.
O’Callaghan was third with 50 metres to go but cruised to victory with a final lap some 0.66 seconds faster than Titmus, who rounded the final corner in second place.
Her win gives Australia its fifth gold medal at the Paris Games, including three in the pool.
The win allowed O’Callaghan to avenge his defeat to Titmus in last month’s Australian trials.
The 20-year-old described the race against her arch-rival as “an honour” and there was no trace of disappointment on Titmus’ face as they embraced in the water just after the finish.
Meanwhile, reigning Australian 100m backstroke champion Kaylee McKeown was the second fastest to qualify for the semi-finals.
McKeown, seeking to repeat her 100-200m backstroke double from the Tokyo Games three years ago, clocked 57.99 seconds, just two-hundredths of a second behind her main rival, American Regan Smith.
Iona Anderson (58.63, fourth), an 18-year-old Olympic newcomer for the Dolphins, will also be in the medal race on Tuesday night.
Fellow Australian Ella Ramsey finished fifth in the women’s 400m individual medley final, won by Canada’s Summer McIntosh.
And his compatriot Max Giuliani finished seventh in the men’s 200-meter freestyle final, won by Romania’s David Popovici.
In Monday night’s other finals, which did not feature any Australians, Italy’s Thomas Ceccon won the men’s 100m backstroke and South Africa’s Tatjana Smith took gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke.
