Ariarne finds inspiration in Dawn’s ‘mind-blowing’ feats

Swimming coach Dean Boxall found inspiration for Australia’s swimming superstar Ariarne Titmus by looking back to our original golden of the pool.

Dean Boxall was still in quarantine after the last Olympics when his mind began to turn towards Paris.

Expecting the standard and competition to be at a much higher level than Tokyo, Boxall began mulling over how he could keep the fire burning in Ariarne Titmus.

A master motivator, Boxall figured out long ago that the way to get the best out of Titmus was by giving her insanely difficult challenges that she couldn’t resist ­taking up.

That’s how she was able to ­defeat the previously unbeatable Katie Ledecky in Tokyo. While most other swimmers were daunted by the idea of taking on the GOAT, Titmus not only embraced it, she thrived on it.

Gold medalist Ariarne Titmus (right) with silver medalist Katie Ledeck,y of the United States, at the medal ceremony for the women's 400m freestyle final on day one of 2019 FINA World Championships. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“Going into the Olympics in Tokyo, knowing that to win my gold medals I had to beat the greatest female swimmer of all time is so much more satisfying than, say, going into the event, not having the same depth in the race,” Titmus said.

“I definitely wouldn’t be the swimmer I am without Katie. She’s just pushed me so hard to try and chase her.

Ariarne Titmus chats with her coach Dean Boxall at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Picture: Michael Klein

“Dean and I have spoken about this and he’s like, ‘you don’t understand the magnitude of what it was to win in Tokyo against her. She’s a force in the swimming world.’

“To be able to beat her, I think is just as much of an achievement as the gold medal.”

But as soon as the Olympic flame was extinguished in Tokyo, Boxall knew he needed to come up with fresh motivation for Titmus in Paris. So instead of looking forward, he looked back to Australia’s original golden girl.

Dawn Fraser (centre) after receiving her gold medal for 100m freestyle final at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964.

It is a testament to the sheer greatness of Dawn Fraser that no Australian woman has ever gone close to matching her mind-blowing accomplishments in the pool.

Like Don Bradman’s batting average, Fraser’s records are so far ahead of every other woman who has worn the green and gold cossies that they are almost forgotten.

As implausible as it sounds, arguably Fraser’s greatest feat is that she is the only Australian female swimmer to successfully defend an individual Olympic title.

That doesn’t even sound right because Australia’s women swimmers have been scooping up Olympic gold medals for over a century but it’s true that only Fraser has won the same event twice.

Actually, make that three times, because ‘Our Dawn’ claimed the 100m freestyle gold medals at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics. Only Ledecky, Krisztina Egerszegi and Michael Phelps have managed three-peats.

Swimmers Lorraine Crapp & Dawn Fraser at the Olympic Games Melbourne 1956.

Aside from Fraser, there have been 17 other Aussie female swimmers who have won individual gold at the Olympics, but none has successfully defended their title. Only Susie O’Neill has won gold medals at two Games, capturing the 200m butterfly at Atlanta in 1996 then the 200m freestyle four years later at Sydney.

A keen student of swimming history, Boxall knew straight away that chasing the legend of Fraser was exactly the sort of challenge Titmus would want to rise to.

Dawn Fraser after she had broken the Australian women’s 220 yards freestyle record at the Olympic Pool, Adelaide in 1956.

Dawn Fraser atthe 1956 Olympic Games.

So he planted the seed and added some extra hurdles to spur her on, explaining that no woman has won the 400m twice since American Martha Norelius (1924, ’28) and that no swimmer – male or female – had ever won the 200m freestyle twice.

And no Australian has won more than three individual gold medals.

As he hoped and expected, Titmus accepted the ultimate challenge and is poised to deliver after breaking Mollie O’Callaghan’s 200m world record at last month’s Australian trials and regaining her 400m world record from Summer McIntosh last year.

“I’ve told him what my goals are for the Olympics and then he tells me what he believes I can do and they very much align,” Titmus said.

“It’s like our goals together.

“I feel like my goals in swimming are just as much as his goals and it’s like a common kind of thing we’re working towards ­together.

“I definitely couldn’t do it without him and I don’t think he would be the coach he is without having an athlete like me.”

Originally published as Ariarne finds inspiration in Dawn’s ‘mind-blowing’ feats