The women’s 400-meter freestyle final in Budapest happens soon, and Ariarne Titmus, Australian women’s swimming prodigy, and world record holder for this particular event, will be absent. Not that she wasn’t granted the privilege, but instead, she simply decided against going . A bold decision- but one that highlights her personality and grants her even more freedom to enjoy herself.
Titmus’s renown comes from her many achievements and world records she has held. Some of these records include a time of 3:53.92 in the Women’s 400m Freestyle in the Hangzhou World Short Course Championships, in 2018, and a time of 7:4.50 in the Gwangju World Championships in 2019. She has also won a total of 4 medals in Olympic Games, two of which being gold and one being silver. Titmus’s many accomplishments earned her the nickname “The Terminator”.
Titmus has been an aspiring swimmer since birth, whether it was admiring Olympians on TV, swimming in her neighborhood pools at age seven, and attending swim clubs in her hometown, Launceston, in Tasmania. Later, Titmus set out to pursue her lifelong dream, by moving to Brisbane. Mediocre swim coaches and menial training in the small Tasmanian community wasn’t weren’t enough. She raced against Olympic gold medallist Katie Ledecky, her confidence soaring as Titmus tightened the competition.
Ariarne Titmus only improved from then on,there and won her first bronze at the 2017 world championships. In 2019, she outshone her rival Ledecky in a 400-meter race. “It doesn’t really matter who she is: I want to beat her,” admitted Titmus. The confidence that drove her to victory was a similar confidence that motivated her decision to go on hiatus.
For this Olympic athlete, fame isn’t contentment. “It doesn’t bother me that I’m not going to be in the headlines or the media… I swim because I love it and I want to perform on the biggest stage, which for me is the Olympic Games,” explains Titmus. Even after earning the title of the best middle-distance swimmer in the world during the Tokyo Olympics, Titmus decided that she wants to do the things that bring her pleasure, not the things that others expect her to do. “She knows what she needs to do. She knows it’s all about the Olympics,” said Dean Boxall, her swim coach.
This makes for a good lesson overall. In the end, people have total control over the actions they make themselves. For Titmus, instead of desiring to immediately defend her title against Ledecky, she wants to make what she thinks is the best decision for her future. After a long lifetime of glittering medals draped around her neck and an urge to claim the crown, Ariarne Titmus remains home while the world championships are taking place, with many awaiting her well-deserved return to the water.
https://www.swimming.org.au/athletes/ariarne-titmus
Titmus’s renown comes from her many achievements and world records she has held. Some of these records include a time of 3:53.92 in the Women’s 400m Freestyle in the Hangzhou World Short Course Championships, in 2018, and a time of 7:4.50 in the Gwangju World Championships in 2019. She has also won a total of 4 medals in Olympic Games, two of which being gold and one being silver. Titmus’s many accomplishments earned her the nickname “The Terminator”.
Titmus has been an aspiring swimmer since birth, whether it was admiring Olympians on TV, swimming in her neighborhood pools at age seven, and attending swim clubs in her hometown, Launceston, in Tasmania. Later, Titmus set out to pursue her lifelong dream, by moving to Brisbane. Mediocre swim coaches and menial training in the small Tasmanian community wasn’t weren’t enough. She raced against Olympic gold medallist Katie Ledecky, her confidence soaring as Titmus tightened the competition.
Ariarne Titmus only improved from then on,there and won her first bronze at the 2017 world championships. In 2019, she outshone her rival Ledecky in a 400-meter race. “It doesn’t really matter who she is: I want to beat her,” admitted Titmus. The confidence that drove her to victory was a similar confidence that motivated her decision to go on hiatus.
For this Olympic athlete, fame isn’t contentment. “It doesn’t bother me that I’m not going to be in the headlines or the media… I swim because I love it and I want to perform on the biggest stage, which for me is the Olympic Games,” explains Titmus. Even after earning the title of the best middle-distance swimmer in the world during the Tokyo Olympics, Titmus decided that she wants to do the things that bring her pleasure, not the things that others expect her to do. “She knows what she needs to do. She knows it’s all about the Olympics,” said Dean Boxall, her swim coach.
This makes for a good lesson overall. In the end, people have total control over the actions they make themselves. For Titmus, instead of desiring to immediately defend her title against Ledecky, she wants to make what she thinks is the best decision for her future. After a long lifetime of glittering medals draped around her neck and an urge to claim the crown, Ariarne Titmus remains home while the world championships are taking place, with many awaiting her well-deserved return to the water.
https://www.swimming.org.au/athletes/ariarne-titmus
