One of the greatest distance swimmers of all time, Ariarne Titmus, has announced her shocking retirement at 25.
The four-time gold medallist left everyone stunned after she revealed her decision to “step away” late on Wednesday, October 15, with an emotional video on social media.
In a video posted on Instagram, the Australian swimming champion said, “It’s a tough one but one that I’m really happy with. I’ve always loved swimming … but I guess I’ve taken this time away from the sport and realised some things in my life that have always been important to me are just a little bit more important to me now than swimming.”
The 25-year-old who had surgery to remove non-cancerous tumours before the Paris Olympics described the health scare as a “turning point” for her.
“A turning point for me, or a time when a switch was flicked, was in the lead-up to the Paris Games. I went through some health challenges, which, quite frankly, really rocked me mentally. It probably was the first time where I considered some things outside of swimming,” she added.
Titmus expressed that after delving into health challenges, she had to “look within” to find what was more important to her beyond swimming.
The emotional eight-time Olympic medal winner asserted, “I’ve always had goals in my personal life, but swimming has always been most important up until this point, and I’ve just realised that those goals and what I want in my future are now more important to me.”
Titmus won a historic third individual gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics after winning the 400m freestyle in “the race of the century,” becoming the first Australian to claim consecutive gold medals at the same event since Dawn Fraser in 1964.
