"During High School, I never went to one party, I never had a boyfriend "- Ariarne Titmus discusses balancing professional & personal life as teenager

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Oct 23, 2024 05:58 GMT

Olympic champion swimmer Ariarne Titmus was recently invited to a podcast titled 'Inherited'. The 24-year-old swimmer talked about many things, from her surgery before the Olympics, to balancing her personal life and professional life as a teenager.

Titmus had an impressive performance at the Paris Olympics. She won two gold medals and two silver medals in the 400m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle relay, 200m freestyle and the 800m freestyle events respectively.

The Aussie recently appeared on the "Inherited" podcast and was asked about how her personal life is impacted while she was training for the Olympics. She replied by stating:

"I never thought as all these things as sacrifices, I always said to myself growing up, that these are choices that I make to achieve things that I'm set out, set goals to do and I mean during High School, I never went to one party, I never had a boyfriend during High School, I just lived a very sheltered life, and and I was okay with because I went overseas for the first time and represented Australia, when I was 14." [22:03 onwards].

The Australian swimmer further talked about balancing her personal and professional life as a teenager.

"I was doing all these amazing things that helped me grow and mature in other ways. But at the same time, I think things like friendship and breakdown and betrayal, or being exposed to how other people your age interact in society in rowdier environments, and navigating heartbreak and love and those things. I didn't have the exposure to that as a teenager,” Titmus added.

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Ariarne Titmus on defeating Katie Ledecky for the first time

Ariarne Titmus with Katie Ledecky and Paige Madden after the victory ceremony for women's 800m freestyle at the Paris Olympics 2024 (Image Source: Getty)

Apart from her achievements individually, Ariarne Titmus is also well known for her rivalry with swimming great and muiltple times Olympic champion Katie Ledecky of the United States. The Aussie overcame Ledecky at the Tokyo Olympics, as well as the Paris Olympics to win the Olympic golds in the women's 400m freestyle.

Titmus opened up on her equation with Ledecky, and how her first victory over the latter at the 2019 World Championships transformed her career. The Aussie said that she was known for defeating the American for the first time more than being a world champion. The 24-year-old said:

"I was known for being the one that beat Katie, and I wasn't known for being world champion. I was known for being the woman that beat Katie for the first time. And I think that was a moment where I probably let it rule who I was. [30:00 onwards]

Katie Ledecky spoke highly of Ariarne Titmus as well. In a act of true sportsmanship, she reached out to the latter over a lane confusion during the finals of the 400m freestyle at the Paris Olympics , and the American swimmer recalled why she didn't want either of the two to be disqualified. In her interview to USA Today, Ledecky mentioned:

"I had to tell her, you’re in lane 5. I told her, ‘All good, all good,’ because she was freaking out. I didn’t want her to feel bad or anything.That was no big deal. I didn’t want either of us to get disqualified for swimming in the wrong lane. We got it taken care of,” she said.

The only event where Ariarne Titmus couldn't overcome Katie Ledecky was the 800m freestyle, which has been the latter's most successful event since her debut at the London Olympics in 2012. Despite her loss, Titmus created a new Oceanian record as she clinched the silver medal in the 800m freestyle event at the Paris Olympics 2024.

The Aussie already has a glittering career so far, with eight Olympic medals to her name so far, four of them being gold. She also has 13 medals at the World Championships across short course and long course pools.