OPINION: Incredible lengths parents go to help kids succeed

There’s a knowing look shared by parents who rise before the sun to take their children to early morning sport. Steve and Robyn Titmus know it well, writes Max Futcher.

There’s a knowing look shared by parents who rise before the sun to take their children to early morning sport.

It’s usually pre-coffee, often wearing pyjamas with the sleep-mask still perched atop their head.
It’s the tired look that says “I’m with you, I understand, but this helps our kids be their best”.

A kid’s best might be a personal best in school athletics, a placing at regional gymnastics, or any other achievement that makes all those early mornings worth it.

So imagine the look you might have got from Steve and Robyn Titmus on one of those early runs.

Steve and Robyn Titmus during the swimming competition at the 2019 World Championships at Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center in Gwangju, South Korea.

Their daughter Ariarne is in final preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, where her showdown with American Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle is widely regarded as one of the highlights of these delayed games.

“It’s been labelled as potentially the greatest race the Olympics has ever seen,” said Steve Titmus this week.

Ariarne Titmus is already a superstar. I work closely with her father Steve and it’s starting to become clear; the world is watching. American broadcaster NBC recently spent some time with the family, filming their daily lives, as part of a feature story to be broadcast during the US Olympic coverage.

It’s not quite Keeping Up With The Titmuses, but it is a sign that this will be the biggest moment in their lives.

So now imagine the look you’d have got when they learned last month that no foreign crowds will be allowed at the Tokyo Olympics. No families, no fans.

“It’s enormously disappointing to think that we’ve come along this journey, and we won’t be there,” Steve said.

Steve Titmus with his daughters Ariarne.

With COVID-19 still rampant, he knows it’s the right decision, but that doesn’t lessen the blow for the Titmuses. Steve had often talked to me about hotel bookings, the cost of flights, and what sights they might see after the swimming events.

Now, that’s all gone, and they’ll be watching their superstar daughter on the TV, like the rest of us.

Mum and Dad won’t be there in the stands, like they usually are.

“We’ve got signals that we use from the grandstands down to the pool, but we just won’t be able to do any of that.”

If Ariarne is affected, it isn’t showing.

“She’d been thinking about that for a long time and she’s come to terms with that several months ago.

“She’s obviously disappointed but her focus is so great, the main game is what’s going to happen in the pool.”

The Titmuses aren’t alone. A group of swimming parents were supposed to travel together to Japan. Instead, they’re now travelling together to a Queensland island resort, to watch the Olympics from afar, on a big screen, under some palm trees.

“We might deck that out with a bit of Aussie green and gold, and a blow-up kangaroo. We’ll create an atmosphere that will enable us to enjoy the Olympics as much as we can, from thousands of kilometres away.”

Steve Titmus with daughters Ariarne and Mia.

It’s a remote realisation of a shared dream, after all those early starts, rising to a pre-dawn alarm, and driving Ariarne to the pool.

“When you watch your daughter have the potential to swim at the Olympic Games, it’s quite surreal that you often think back to those early mornings. Looking back now, what a fabulous decision it was to get up every single morning.

“My message to every single parent out there; if it’s freezing cold, and you’re lying in bed, if your child happens to make it, it’s one of the greatest thrills on earth.”

When he tells me this, I can read the look in his eye. It’s a look that confirms, whether he’s there or not, it’s all been worth it.

“Mate, we’ll be cheering that loud, she might hear us!”

Steve, if it helps, we’ll all be cheering with you.

Max Futcher is the co-anchor of Seven News, weeknights at 6pm