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Saturday, April 20, 2024

Titmus’ coach goes wild at gold medal swim

Pity the Japanese Olympic usher trying to restrain Australia’s eccentric swim coach Dean Boxall.

The local official had no chance.

An Australian wouldn’t even have bothered trying to rein in Boxall, the ball of energy coach of Ariarne Titmus.

When relaxed, Boxall buzzes like a de-tuned radio.

When his star swimmer beats an American legend to win an Olympic gold, Boxall loses his mind.

Boxall’s celebrations at Tokyo Aquatic Centre on Monday were wild, ripping off his mask and tearing through the seats in scenes that quickly went viral on social media.

At an Olympics where crowds, and cheering, are banned, an usher tried to hold him back only to relent to the crazed Australian.

Boxall is an enigmatic motivator with brutal training regimes, famed for seeking the animal within the athlete.

And he and Titmus had long been on the hunt for this Olympic gold medal.

Swimming Australia put a microphone on Boxall at the pre-Games training camp in Cairns. The deleted scenes would be fascinating.

Those published show Boxall, in a rare still moment, pondering what makes a successful swim coach.

“Catching momentum is the hardest thing,” he said.

“You can put in really good training blocks but it’s really the confidence that comes with it.

“So you’re catching confidence and great work together – and that’s the recipe for success.

“Trying to hold momentum is probably the most difficult part of my job.”

After winning gold, Titmus herself spoke of keeping the proverbial lid on things: she still has two more duels with Ledecky, over 200m and 800, to come.

“I’m trying to contain it as much as I can as I have a big program ahead of me,” Titmus said.

“I can enjoy this afterwards and not get too excited.”

AAP

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