Olympics: Dean Boxall’s tightrope in motivating both Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan

Dean Boxall’s star pupils Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan are also rivals, which makes the job of motivator and tactician all the more complex writes ROBERT CRADDOCK.

Dean Boxall has the job of motivating teammates and rivals Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O'Callaghan.

WHOEVER first said a parent is only as happy as their least happy child was not talking about swim coaches and their star pupils.

But, momentarily this week, they could have been.

In the breathtaking moments after Ariarne Titmus posted a world record in the 200m freestyle Dean Boxall was at his fist-pumping, excited best.

But, like any good parent, er, sorry coach, he simply had to go where he was needed most – comforting his other champion Mollie O’Callaghan who was beaten by a feather after leading in the last lap.

This was O’Callaghan’s first big disappointment since climbing to the heights of world champion and she still had a big task ahead to qualify for the individual 100m freestyle two days later.

How did Boxall pick O’Callaghan up from despair, when she had cried all night before the race such was the suffocating pressure she was feeling as world record holder.

“To be honest, I won’t share that. That’s personal between Dean and I and I respect his relationship with me,” O’Callaghan said.

“And you know, at the end of the day, I’m not here to share all my secrets.”

About two hours before O’Callaghan took to the blocks for the 100m freestyle final, Boxall was spotted in a dark corner of the Chandler Aquatic Centre sharing a joke with his young sprinter – her smile beaming unlike any other time this week.

Titmus and O'Callaghan of Queensland embrace after their thrilling 200 metre trial battle. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

The job of a swim coach is all encompassing. Tactician. Taskmaster. Joker. Psychologist. Confidante. Knowing which trick to pull out of his box at which time is what separates the masters from the rookies.

When his many swimmers talk about Boxall, they describe his approach as like trying to find the key to unlock the individual. Each requires a different combination.

The great challenge for Boxall in the 200m is that he must hand each swimmer a game plan to win and that leaves all sorts of questions hanging in the air.

Does that game plan include a tactic of how to beat the other? How many beans do you spill?

Boxall, who has done an exceptional job with both swimmers, motivates Titmus by challenging the tiger within.

Boxall talks to Titmus at the St Peters Western final training session before the Paris trials. Picture: Steve Pohlner

When Boxall had a Paris-themed training session a few weeks ago he set his swimmers a special time target and they got to ring a bell on a mini Eiffel Tower if they nailed it.

But, for Titmus, the bell never tolled. She fell short. She looked momentarily sad. Her coach wasn’t sad at all.

Boxall set her a time target which was stratospherically high, one she almost certainly was not going to reach.

By setting Titmus a crazy-tough time Boxall placed a burr on her saddle, a carrot she couldn’t quite snatch. The message was clear. Keep lifting. Stay desperate. Scrap like you did when you were the hungry hunter not the queen of the pool.

“You have to be more hungry (at your second Olympics) than your first,’’ Boxall told this masthead that Saturday.

“You can get like a domestic cat … comfortable at home, getting stroked by your owner, having Whiskers. You need to be the one before who’s outside in the cold chasing the mouse around.’’

Boxall hugs O'Callaghan and Titmus at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Titmus and O’Callaghan will face each other in the 200m but in Titmus’ pet event, the 400m, Boxall has crafted a grand plan to urge-spur-cajole her into a world only Dawn Fraser lives in among female Australian swimmers in the last six decades.

Fraser is the last Australian female swimmer to go back to back Olympic gold in the same event (she actually won three 100m titles in a row in 1956-60-64) and there’s a reason why it’s such a strikingly short list.

Climbing Mt Everest to claim that elusive gold in one thing when you are lean, hungry and desperate.

Doing it a second time when you are a star being tugged in a dozen different directions can be a severe slog and requires you to look deep inside yourself for motivation few humans possess.

One Olympics you are out in the cold scrapping like a beggar for a biscuit. The hunter. The next one you are in by the fire.

Originally published as Olympics: Dean Boxall’s tightrope in motivating both Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan