Ariarne Titmus has revealed the one question she hasn’t been asked since her bombshell announcement that she would be calling time on her competitive swimming career.
In a new interview on the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About, the four-time Olympic gold medallist said no-one had asked her why she made the decision to exit the sport at the top of her game.
“I knew it would be a shock to a lot of people. It was quite out of the blue,” Titmus told podcast host Sarrah Le Marquand as she addressed the question.
“But I certainly wasn’t expecting the reception I received,” Titmus continued, in the first at-length interview she has given since retiring.
“The morning I hit post [on the announcement] at 8am Brisbane time, within half an hour, all over social media there were already articles and clips.
Listen to the full interview on the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About:
“I am at the top of my game, I’m still only 25, and I was concerned that the wider public wouldn’t understand my reasoning. But I haven’t had one person asking me why.”
Titmus told Le Marquand that she was satisfied with her achievements in the pool – and ready for new challenges.
A pivotal turning point arrived when she was in the commentary box for the World Championships in July, Titmus revealed.
“I was on the sideline in a very different role, I didn’t feel any desire to be a part of the team,” Titmus told Le Marquand. “I was just a fan of the sport and didn’t have a sense of FOMO because I wasn’t there. When that happened, I thought it’d be too hard and not worth it for me to go back just to win more medals.”
Speaking on Something To Talk About, Titmus opened up about how some of her fellow swimmers, including US swimmer and Titmus’ fierce rival Katie Ledecky, responded to the news.
“Katie Ledecky was one of the first people to message me, ‘Congratulations and we’ll miss you on the pool deck.’ The humility of the rivalry we’ve had, I’m really proud of that,” Titmus said on the new episode of Something To Talk About.
She also addressed how fellow Australian Olympic swimmers Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O’Callaghan reacted.
“Messages from Emma, Mollie, and Kaylee were all beautiful.
“They’re all Olympic gold medallists in their own right. But beyond that, past swimmers who I’ve now become friends with, and even rivals.
“A lot of them said to me, ‘I didn’t think you were going to come back, Arnie. You look so happy.’ It was funny they could see that in me.”
Titmus opened up about her recent relocation to Melbourne to be with her new boyfriend, Mac Powell, who Titmus said “didn’t know who I was” when they first met. “I don’t want to be away from him, so I made the shift to Melbourne,” Titmus said.
Listen to the full interview with Ariarne Titmus in conversation with host Sarrah Le Marquand now on a new episode of the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About.
See her full cover shoot in Stellar today, inside The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria), The Sunday Mail (Queensland) and Sunday Mail (SA).
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