Australia’s swimming golden girl thinks she has the best coach in the sport.
In fact, Ariarne Titmus thinks Dean Boxall is the best coach in all of sports.
You may recall Boxall completely blew his stack at the Tokyo Olympics when Titmus stormed off the legendary Katie Ledecky to win gold in the 400m freestyle.
Besides being great meme fodder, Boxall is something of a swimming swami.
Ask Titmus.
“I can’t really speak for anyone else, but I believe my relationship with Dean is probably the best athlete-coach bond you can have,” Titmus told the ABC.
“I feel like we’re best friends apart from him being my coach as well, which is really good.
“As you know, when we’re in the pool it’s coach/athlete, and outside of that we’re best friends, which I think works really well for us.”
Titmus and Boxall are now targeting the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships, which start tomorrow in Adelaide, and it’s clear the 21-year-old superstar only wants one man in his corner.
“He’s such a unique individual, there’s no one else like him, so I think when we work really well together.
“I won’t have another relationship like this with anyone else, so I’m really grateful to have met Dean and to work with him and to have him by my side.”
Bond forged over time
The laconic Boxall is slightly less expansive than his swimmer, but clearly puts his athletes – their dreams, their success, their well-being – above all else.
When told that Titmus thinks they are the best athlete-coach duo in the sport, the 45-year-old smirks.
“Arnie might need to check out other sports. I think Rafael and Toni were pretty good. I mean, we have a really good relationship,” he says, giving some insight into his tennis knowledge.
But he stresses that the bond forged between him and Titmus didn’t happen overnight.
“That [closeness] That’s why I can push her and she doesn’t mind.
“But, you know, it’s something that was developed, it wasn’t just snapping your fingers.
“You have to have a lot of confidence. It also comes with a lot of responsibility.
“I mean, she’s a great girl, but I have a great relationship with most of the guys on the team, and you have to train that.
“There are a lot of dreams at stake. So you have to dream with them.”
“I don’t read manuals, I read my athletes”
Any swimmer or coach who watched Titmus’ brilliantly executed swim to knock down Ledecky in Tokyo would appreciate the thought and planning – not to mention the hard work – that would have gone into reaching that moment.
But Boxall’s undoubted tactical genius doesn’t come from a book or a lecture.
“I’m not going to read manuals, I read my athletes,” he says.
“I read the event. I read the competitors. And I will try to create something.
“I don’t do lessons. I just read my guys and the sport that’s out there. I don’t think it’s a secret.”
Boxall relishes his work coaching St Peter’s Western Swim Club for major meets like these national championships.
Some of his other Chargers include Elijah Winnington, Shayna Jack and Molly O’Callaghan, and Boxall says he has a unique relationship with each of them.
“Some people think it’s a job. It’s not a job.
“A job is to stand up and say ‘oh, I have Mondayitis.’
“I think they’re a great group. I believe in them. They believe in me.
“They believe in St Peters Western. They can’t wait to represent Australia. I love representing Australia, I think it’s the best thing you can do.”
“That” Moment at the Olympics
Boxall says the Olympics were “strange”.
He describes the strange feeling of climbing the mountain that is the Olympics, then coming home through COVID isolation and moving on to the next part of the season.
“Because the Olympics was so different, you know, we’re done competing, within 24 hours we’re on a charter flight.
“No booze, straight in Howard Springs, no booze, basically in a small room. Just waiting to get out. Didn’t get a chance to grab a steak with my friends or beer, or even to think a bit with the athletes – we were all in different compartments.”
Did he mention there was no alcohol?
Boxall says his Hulk-berserker moment was the culmination of all the tension leading up to the Olympics and this particular event.
“I think the moment I broke free was because of so much buildup, you know Arnie had to deal with a shoulder injury, there’s a lot of pressure, you know NBC is getting is actually soaring to present this race as the great race of the Olympic Games, not just for swimming.
“Even trying to make it through COVID. Like, it was a different kind of pressure and stress to deal with, having to wear masks, and we had tests every day. What if someone got COVID , he could not fly.
He says people connected at that time amid the fear and isolation of the pandemic.
“I think it was probably like a perfect storm. People were in lockdown watching, probably feeling [they were] want to take out the joy of watching this race too.
“That moment with Arnie was like a moment when those people in the living room watching could get up and jump and cheer Australia on. I think that’s the biggest thing you can give someone. “
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