Olympic great Ariarne Titmus has announced her retirement from competitive swimming, effective immediately.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, the 25-year-old said she would no longer be representing Australia. Her last competitive meet was the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ariarne Titmus during her stellar career.Credit: Getty Images
“I am here to announce that I’ve made the decision to retire from competitive swimming,” Titmus said in a video posted on her Instagram account. “A tough one, a really tough one, but one that I’m really happy with.
“I’ve always loved swimming. It’s been my passion since I was a little girl. 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 and that’s OK. Here we are.”
“I always intended to return. I never thought Paris would be my last Olympic Games. Knowing what I know now, maybe I wish I had enjoyed that last race a little bit more.
“I guess in this 12 months I’ve been able to explore what life is like outside of swimming.”
Titmus retires a legend of her sport, having won four Olympic gold medals across the Tokyo and Paris Games.
She famously beat American great Katie Ledecky in the 2019 world championships in her favoured 400m freestyle event before picking up an unexpected Olympic gold in the same event two years later in Tokyo.