Ariarne Titmus opens up as ‘really scary’ health ordeal rocks Olympic preparation

Aussie swimming champion Ariarne Titmus has revealed she still hasn’t bounced back after a health drama continues to leave her rocked.

Ariarne Titmus has opened up on her health scare. Photo: Getty Images

Australian swimming golden girl Ariarne Titmus has revealed she’s still not completely recovered after going under the knife to remove a growth found on her ovary in September.

Titmus has become one of Australian swimming’s biggest names after she ended US legend Katie Ledecky’s stranglehold on the middle distance events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.

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Titmus came away with gold medals in the 200m and 400m events, while Ledecky claimed gold ahead of the Aussie in the 800m.

The 23-year-old is a four time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist, and will hope to add to the latter tally at the Paris Games next year.

But the swimming champion was rocked when she revealed “a large growth was found on my right ovary” in September.

The growths were benign tumours called dermoids, which according to the Australian government’s Healthdirect website, is a cyst containing “different types of body tissue, such as hair, fat, skin, teeth and bone. They grow very slowly and are not cancerous.”

While dermoid cysts are common, they can have ramifications such as causing the ovary to twist on itself, although that is not common, or they may burst, according to a Western Sydney Local Health District fact sheet.

Titmus is on the comeback trail. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Titmus has since returned to the pool ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games but told the Keegan and Company podcast that she was “frustrated” about her recovery so far, saying that while the rest of her team is in peak condition “I just feel like a blob”.

“The recovery from a surgery like this is not simple,” Titmus told the Keegan and Company podcast.

“But I had no choice for me and where I want to go in my life, I just had to get it out.

“I wasn’t doing anything for two weeks and then slowly got back in (the pool). I wore a floaty around my waist … doing dog paddles for 200 metres and slowly building up.”

While dermoid cysts are not associated with infertility, Titmus said the issue was a wake up call, especially as she hopes to be a mother one day.

“As an athlete, you are all the time so worried about keeping your body in check to perform, and only worrying about getting enough sleep, eating right, physio, massage – all just to perform every day,” Titmus said.

“So when you hear that you’ve got a tumour on your ovary, it cuts pretty deep.

“Every since I was younger, I always have wanted to have kids. It’s something you just expect is going to happen when you’re older. So when you get told something that could potentially interfere with that, it’s really scary.”

Ariarne Titmus greets fans after winning bronze in the Women's 800m Freestyle at the World Championships in July. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Titmus said she was caught between feelings of focusing on her health and the voice in her head telling her to get back in the pool.

“I kind of buried all the emotions I actually went through and it’s kind of now that I’m dealing with that,” she said.

“I feel kind of stupid for feeling scared or upset because I’m actually fine. I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m very lucky that it was removed easily and there was nothing serious and I had no implications on my health but it was really scary. Like really scary.

“When you get told something that could potentially interfere with that (pregnancy), it’s really scary.

“Since then I’ve had so many women message me and be like, ‘I had a massive (tumour) and I lost my ovary, but I got pregnant with one ovary’. It was pretty cool to hear from women and all their different stories.”

Titmus said that she hopes that telling her story will help normalise situation.