Thank you Arnie! Two-time Olympian Ariarne Titmus retires

NOT just anyone has the star power to be known by their first name only, it takes a certain something but then again there is only one Arnie.

Two-time Olympian Ariarne Titmus announced her retirement from all levels of swimming today, officially Dolphin #778 has left the pool.

The current 200m world record holder hangs up her golden goggles after a staggering haul of 33 international medals including 8 Olympic medals (4 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze), 9 World Championship medals (4-2-3) and 8 Commonwealth Games medals (7-1-0).

The 25-year-old, dubbed the Terminator after her breakthrough Olympic performance in Tokyo, retires as one of the greatest distance swimmers of all time.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Titmus achieved an historic third individual Olympic gold medal, winning the 400m freestyle where she defeated the other two previous world record holders of this event – American all-time great Katie Ledecky, and Canadian swimming prodigy Summer McIntosh.

In doing so, Titmus – in what was her finale on the international stage – became the first Australian athlete since Dawn Fraser in 1964, to win back-to-back gold medals in the same event.

There will be a seismic void for the Dolphins’ to fill as it was customary at major meets for Titmus to swim the 400m freestyle event on the opening night. It’s a race the Tasmanian had dominated for seven years, taking it out at every major competition she’s swam at since the 2018 short course world championships in Hangzhou.

And it was a responsibility that Titmus took seriously. Before her successful Paris campaign, Titmus vowed to win Australia’s first gold medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics not just for the Dolphins but for the entire Australian Olympic team and for the Australian public.

Titmus also signs off on her glittering career as the current 200m freestyle world record holder, a time she clocked on the third night of the 2024 Australia Selection Trials when Titmus snatched the 200m world record from teammate Mollie O’Callaghan in 1:52.23.

In doing so, Titmus became the first Australian woman since Shane Gould in 1972 to concurrently hold the 200m and 400m freestyle world records.

“When you’ve got someone like Dean (Boxall)  in your corner, you’d beat everyone. He has the most passion and the most pride to be a part of this swim team.”

“It’s been such a thrill for me for the past 10 years to be part of what is an incredible team (the Dolphins). As the years have gone by, it’s just gotten better and better as the friendships you make grow stronger … It’s been the joy of my life to be a part of that team.”

Titmus rose to fame in Tokyo by dethroning the legend of Ledecky, who had dominated women’s middle distance freestyle for the best part of a decade. She had earlier put Ledecky on notice with her come-from-behind win over her at the Gwangju world championships in South Korea in 2019 where she inflicted the first international 400m defeat.

“To come from behind and win in Tokyo against the GOAT (Katie Ledecky) that feeling will sit with me forever … I can say without a doubt that without facing Katie, I wouldn’t be the athlete that I am. I feel so grateful that I’ve been part of such an incredible rivalry.”

Tokyo Olympics was also the start of Titmus’s own mythical narrative after she won the 200m freestyle, finished second in the 800m freestyle and earned a bronze medal in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.

 A ferocious, hard-working competitor, Titmus first stamped her mark on the world swimming stage at the 2017 World Championships, where she won a bronze medal as part of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team. She then went on to finish fourth in the 400m freestyle event.

A year later, in front of a home crowd at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Titmus dominated: winning three gold medals in the 400m freestyle, the 800m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay, as well as silver in the 200m freestyle.

At the 2019 World Championships, Titmus took top honours in the women’s 400m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay, whilst also earning silver and bronze in the 200m freestyle and 800m freestyle, respectively.

And then at Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022, Titmus became the just the second swimmer to claim the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle treble at the Commonwealth Games – all in Games records. The feat had previously only been achieved by Australian Karen Moras in Edinburgh in 1970.

At the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships, Titmus set a new 400m freestyle world record with a time of 3:56:40, breaking Ledecky’s former mark set at Rio 2016 by 0.06s.

At the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Titmus was controlled in the 400m freestyle prelims to qualify for the final in lane five. In the final, she led after the first lap and dominated the rest of the race, winning in 3:55.38 to beat Ledecky and claim the world record back from Canada’s Summer McIntosh.

In the 200m freestyle final she claimed silver and then anchored the Australian 4x200m freestyle relay team, who won gold in a world record time.

The workhorse then backed up for the 800m free and equalled her best time in 8:13.59, to finished third behind gold-medal winner Ledecky.

The 400m final at Fukuoka, in which Titmus left both Ledecky and McIntosh in her wake, was described as the “race of the century” and her victory secured her place as the undisputed champion of women’s middle-distance swimming.

Just two months after Fukuoka, Titmus revealed she had undergone surgery to remove two benign tumours on her right ovary and after almost 10 weeks recuperating, she made her return to swimming at the Queensland State Championships.

However, Titmus elected to bypass the 2024 World Championships in Doha as she prepared for the Paris Olympics.

After Paris, Titmus took a lengthy hiatus and while admitting that chlorine will always be the breakfast of champions, she will now look at establishing a media career outside the water and will be very much part of LA and Brisbane 2032.

And the Dolphins’ superstar will pave her own green and gold runway with her trademark fearlessness.

Career snapshot:  

Ariarne Titmus: Dolphin #778

• Four-time Olympic gold medallist
• Two-time Olympian
• Reigning Olympic champion in the women’s 400m
• Current 200m freestyle world record holder (1:52.23)
• At 2024 Australian Selection Trials, Titmus become the first Australian woman since Shane Gould in 1972 to concurrently hold the 200m and 400m free world records
• Member of the women’s 4x200m freestyle team that holds the world record
• 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games became the second swimmer to claim the 200m/400m/800m freestyle treble at a Commonwealth Games – all in Games records
• Nominee for the 2025 Laureus World Comeback of the Year award for her performance at the 2024 Olympics after recovering from a surgery to remove an ovarian tumour