Former Australian Olympian James Magnussen says Ariarne Titmus is on the brink of becoming Australia’s greatest Olympic swimmer.
Titmus has earned hero status in Tokyo, winning gold in the 400m and 200m freestyle, beating American champion Katie Ledecky in both finals.
“Depending on how she goes in the 4x200m and the 800m … I would say it’s the best performance by a swimmer at an Olympics ever,” Magnussen told SEN’s Whateley.
“I’d say it supersedes (Ian Thorpe), supersedes Dawn Fraser, it supersedes Steph Rice – I really do think she’s at this point the best Olympic swimmer we’ve ever seen.
“I think the way she’s been tracking over the last two years has kind of suggested that.”
Magnussen, a silver and bronze medallist at the 2012 and 2016 Games, was asked where the 20-year-old’s improvement has come from.
“Probably her maturity,” he replied.
“You saw after she won the 400m freestyle, most swimmers after they win a gold medal at a major event tend to relax and let their hair down a bit and the results off the back of that can be mixed.
“As soon as Titmus finished the 400 freestyle she was saying in the interview afterwards that I’m not going to let myself get too far ahead or relax, I’ve got multiple races to come.
“That’s a maturity that you don’t really see from swimmers her age.”
Australia’s swim team has excelled in the pool in Tokyo and Magnussen has put that down to the extra year of preparation after the postponement of the 2020 Games.
“I think the COVID year for the Australian swim team has been a godsend,” he said.
“Had this been a year ago, would Titmus have improved as much as she had? Would Ledecky have dropped off a little bit like she has? Probably not.
“The fact that we’ve got such a young team, it’s really been a godsend that extra 12 months to prepare for this Olympics.”
Titmus will look to add a third gold to her impressive medal collection in the 800m freestyle.
The Tasmanian-born sensation won bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay.