If that is what Mollie O’Callaghan does when she’s overcome with nerves, imagine what she’ll do when she’s feeling good.
O’Callaghan provided one of the most magical moments in the pool so far at Paris 2024 when she chased down her great rival – and training partner – Ariarne Titmus to claim gold in the women’s 200m freestyle on Tuesday morning.
Given Titmus’ imposing Olympic record the result felt like an upset, but it really shouldn’t have.
O’Callaghan is the reigning world champion in this event and, even though Titmus broke the world record at the Olympic trials, we shouldn’t forget that O’Callaghan did too.
Much has, and will, be made of the fact the pair train together under coach Dean Boxall, but this was very much Mollie’s night.
The 20-year-old was visibly nervous as the swimmers’ names were called out and stepped up to the starting blocks, but seasoned observers, including Olympic legend Ian Thorpe, knew not to worry.
“The nerves, most people would have been concerned for her,” Thorpe said on commentary for the Nine Network. “We’ve spoken about how she’s a nervous swimmer, and it’s ok, she admits it, she owns that.
“I have seen Olympic champions stand on the blocks with their legs shaking – they cannot control it, and they still won.”
Mollie O’Callaghan celebrates after winning gold. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)
In a fascinating insight, Thorpe spoke about the fine balance between harnessing the extra energy and using it to your advantage, or tipping over the edge and becoming a nervous wreck.
Thorpe had his own experience of the latter, famously falling into the pool before the start of his pet race, the 400m, at the Olympic trials ahead of the 2004 Games (he was disqualified, but allowed to compete at the Olympics after the man who took his spot, Craig Stevens, withdrew).
“We’re talking about that nervous energy that she has,” Thorpe said.
“We’re talking about a level of peak anxiety to raise yourself up to a level that you can perform at, that you’d never be able to do, but not fall off the edge of the cliff where it’s too much (and) it overwhelms you.
“That’s what Mollie was able to do tonight – she was able to harness that energy.”
She certainly did, producing a sensational swim in which she, perhaps counterintuitively, remained calm as Titmus and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey went out hard in the first 100 metres.
O’Callaghan didn’t hit the lead until the final lap, but when she did there was no chance for anyone else in the pool.
After the race, she described the mindset that led her to becoming an individual Olympic champion for the first time.
“You’ve just got to accept the challenge at the end of the day,” O’Callaghan told the Nine Network. “You can either run, or you can fight, and I chose to fight.”
O’Callaghan can now turn her attention to the 100m freestyle, where she will once again face off against Haughey, part of a stacked field that’ll also include world champion Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands, American star Tori Huske, Swedish legend Sarah Sjoestroem, Canadian sensation Maggie Mac Neil and another of O’Callaghan’s training partners, Shayna Jack.
After such a commanding performance in the 200m race O’Callaghan now enters the 100m with momentum and, perhaps more importantly, a giant weight off her shoulders.
“Less pressure now,” O’Callaghan said as she looked forward to the 100m. “I just get to swim freely.”
It’s scary enough to make you nervous.
The Roarhttps://https://ift.tt/gTk2MIs of the Day: ‘Peak anxiety’ – How Mollie went from nervous wreck to wrecking machine
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