Ariarne Titmus wins 400m freestyle gold medal at Paris Olympics to etch her name into history books

Ariarne Titmus has dominated the ‘race of the century’ to claim Australia’s second gold medal of the Paris Olympics while etching her own name into the history books.

Ariarne Titmus celebrates after winning gold in the women’s 400m freestyle at the Paris Olympics. Picture: Adam Head

Australia has had plenty of great swimmers over the years, but none quite like Ariarne Titmus.

If she hadn’t fallen in love with the pool, she might just as easily have ended up in the boxing ring, because she’s a natural-born fighter.

No-one who has ever swum for Australia has taken on the enormous challenges she has — and come out on top.

Her latest win — in the women’s 400m freestyle in Paris — cements her place amongst the greats because of the incredible opponents she beat.

While her own performance was all guts — winning the gold in 3:57.49 — what elevates Titmus above other mere mortals is the women she leaves behind in her slipstream, particularly American Katie Ledecky and Canada’s Summer McIntosh.

For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, Ledecky is regarded as the greatest swimmer of all time, and McIntosh tipped as her apparent heir, even though Titmus has their measure over eight laps, which is the ultimate test of speed and endurance.

McIntosh finished second in 3:58.37 while Ledecky was third in 4:00.86 but neither could catch Titmus who led all the way.

“I’m buggered but I feel relieved,” Titmus said.

“It’s a different feeling. Winning it again after the first time. I know what it takes to be Olympic champion.

“I know how hard it is racing in these circumstances at an Olympic Games, it’s not really like anything else, the noise and atmosphere and pressure and village life definitely makes performing well hard. But I’m really happy to come out on top.

“I felt pretty good the whole way. I have no idea what my splits were but I definitely started to feel it in the last 100m. But I left everything out there. I gave it everything I could.

“It probably wasn’t the time I thought I was capable of but living in Olympic Village makes it hard to perform. It’s definitely not made for high performance. So it’s about who can really keep it together in the mind.”

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The 23-year-old from Tasmania who dared to dream big - Titmus has done that and more.

Unbeaten over 400m since 2018, the Terminator joined Martha Norelius (1924-1928) as the only women to win the race at successive Olympics.

More significantly, she joined Dawn Fraser as the only Australian female swimmer to retain an individual Olympic title. Fraser was at the pool to see it happen.

“I can’t really believe that’s me to be honest. I just look at myself and I’m so normal,” Titmus said.

“And I just love swimming and love getting out and representing our country and having fun. And I hope no one looks at me any differently. I’m just the same old goofy Tassie girl out here living out a dream? And I hope it goes to show that anyone can do what they want to do if they work hard and believe in themselves.

“I’m from a little old Launceston, a town of 90,000, and I’m out here living the dream. So I hope that inspires young kids back home.”

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When the race was over, Ledecky was the first to congratulate Titmus. They may be rivals in the pool but their respect is mutual.

“I feel like we’ve got a pretty good relationship outside the water. I definitely don’t see my rivalry with her or anything, but racing, I really respect her as a person, and I look up to her with what she’s done and the longevity in the sport,” Titmus said.

“It’s nice to catch up to honestly. see her in marshalling and have a chat. And it’s fun racing the best in the world. It gets the best out of me, hopefully gets the best out of them. And I really hope that all the hype lived up to its expectation.”

Fellow Australian Jamie Perkins touched the wall in eight in a time of 4:04.96.