Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus enjoys ‘downtime’ by swimming pool amid extended break from competitive swimming

The four-time Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus shared a glimpse of her downtime, enjoying time by the pool during her extended break from competitive swimming. Titmus last competed at the 2024 Paris Games, after which she announced her extended break, and skipped last year’s Swimming Short Course World Championships and World Cup legs, among other notable competitions.

Following her break, she has participated in various non-swimming sporting events, including the Melbourne Cup, where she served as an ambassador for the carnival, and worked as a commentator for Channel Nine during the 2025 Australian Open.

During this off-period, the 24-year-old swimmer offered glimpses of herself, reading a book and relaxing by the pool on her Instagram, captioning the post:

“Making the most of my downtime relaxing by the pool!”

A month ago, Ariarne Titmus reflected on her decision to take an extended break after the Paris Games.

“I’ve always said that I was going to take a 12-month break off the back of Paris. That’s something that I discussed with Dean [Boxall] and Rohan before the Paris Olympics. I just knew that after Paris, I needed some time away. I’ve been on the national team since I was 16, and I just needed a bit of a break mentally from the intensity of the sport,” Ariane Titmus said via The Swimming Morning Herald.

In the same interview, the 400m and 200m freestyle long course world record holder further shared her plans to compete at the 2028 Olympics, set to take place in Los Angeles.

When Ariarne Titmus reflected on challenges she had to overcome including coaching herself at 14

Ariarne Titmus at Tokyo Olympics (Photo: Getty Images)

Ariarne Titmus once reflected on how she had to pay an entry fee to use a pool, coach herself, and swim without anyone timing her sessions during an interaction with a senior sports journalist from The Courier-Mail in a November 2023 interview.

“At 14, it was kind of when our family was sorting out the move to Brisbane, and my coach had left, and I didn't want to do the sessions that the rest of the squad were doing because I had just qualified for my first Australian team. So, my coach from Brisbane was texting, seeing me the sessions every day I would pay an entry fee, go to the pool twice a day around school as a 14-year-old, and swim in between all the public swimmers and have no one time me in,” Ariarne Titmus said (7:41 onwards).

“I was swimming a massive mileage at a really young age, and did that for about three months. And it's crazy to think about the motivation, the discipline to do that as a girl in year eight. I think, I think back and wonder how I did that, but I guess it goes to show what you do when, and you're really driven,” she further mentioned.

Later, in 2023, Ariarne Titmus encountered a health setback when an MRI scan revealed two ovarian tumors. Fortunately, the tumors were benign and successfully removed through surgery.