Mollie O’Callaghan has secured the gold in the 200m freestyle final with an Olympic record of 1:53.27 in her first individual Olympic final.
“To be honest, I did it for the country, I didn’t do it for myself. I’m racing for all these people,” she told Nine after the win.
Australia secured the 1-2 in the pool on Tuesday morning, with reigning gold medallist Ariarne Titmus following closely behind with a time of 1:53.81.
“It’s such an honour to be with everyone and compete against Arnie. She is an absolute gun,” O’Callaghan told Nine after the win.
“She races like an absolute beast and it’s an honour to train alongside her and have such a great team around us.”
Continuing a historic run for Australian swimming, the girls’ result is the first time Australia has finished 1-2 in an Olympic swimming final since Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett in the men’s 400m freestyle back in 2004. For context, O’Callaghan was just five months old when that happened.
Both O’Callaghan and Titmus are coached by the great Dean Boxall, who is presumably chewing at the walls in Paris right now with excitement over the finish.
“I think he should be so proud of his efforts. He is a brilliant coach. I believe the best in the world,” Titmus told Nine.
“To manage this and have the two fastest girls in the world is a credit to him. It’s not just us, opening night he contributed to every medal that we (Australia) won as a coach. I just feel very blessed to have him in our corner. If you want anyone backing you, it’s Dean and we will be forever grateful for him.”
In a true blue display of Aussie sportsmanship, Titmus congratulated her teammate immediately following the win.
The result comes after both swimmers won gold earlier in the week — O’Callaghan in the relay, and Titmus in the 400m.
At just 20 years old, Mollie O’Callaghan is now the youngest Australian to win four gold medals.
I guess it really *does* pay to be girt by sea.
You can watch the swimming, and the rest of the Olympics live on Channel 9 and 9Now.
Image: Getty Images
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