She loves training, she loves racing.
She loves the sport.
She knows that she... that I'm the rock and
I ain't gonna shift on any standards.
Since she was a little girl, it hasn't changed.
Arne could well be in the greatest race
that this sport has ever seen.
That is just gonna be something.
She used to watch the Olympics and it used to be a dream.
And here it is.
I have the chance to race at the Olympics,
and this is the biggest sporting event on earth.
It's just too hard to comprehend.
Is she's special? No doubt about it.
Special enough? We'll see.
BRISBANE QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
Okay. Have a look there at the warm up.
We got a hundred and fifty kick drill swim.
Twenty-five long dog, Conner. Twenty-five freestyle.
Sure you can see the pattern.
Any questions?
And five...
Dean and I first met when I made my first
Australian Junior Teams.
And I immediately thought this guy is nuts.
Arne, that is just too slow.
Absolutely not good enough.
You gotta put your things in order.
You're not here. You're all over the place.
If you're called upon to do a relay
in the knockdown Olympics
and you're performing like this, you'll be pulled.
I think he believes in me more than myself as well actually
and that is why he's tough because he doesn't wanna see me
fall short of what he thinks I can achieve.
He's a big part of why I've improved.
135.6!
She's diligent and she basically has
the same sort of work ethic and morals that I had
and the values like
she believes in the cause and so did I.
I need more stuff.
Mom, you didn't really get enough stuff here.
-So, it's not like filled... -And strawberries?
It's not like filled up enough. You know what I mean?
Yeah. I know.
I'm so grateful to have a family like them.
I grew up in Launceston in Tasmania
which is the little island down the bottom of Australia.
And we used to dress up in our princess outfits
and go and ride the horses off in the bush.
And my sister and I,
I actually can't believe, like, Mom and Dad let us do this,
we'd, like, walk off in the afternoon
on a weekend and go and like make a cubby house
literally, like, in the bush.
I definitely had a great childhood growing up there.
So, how was the weekend training overall?
Five out of ten.
Compare it to last week.
Last week was better.
I started racing and training in a squad when I was seven.
I was never ever scared of swimming.
And dad always used to say to me,
"We have to sign you up for that club down the road."
And then he said that for like six months.
She wasn't the best swimmer though, early on, was she?
-No. Yeah. -She always had to work hard
-on her swimming. -She was very finely built.
Takes after her dad. These long skinny legs.
When I was like 12 I really started to focus
more on swimming and I won my first National Age Title
in the 200 freestyle and I think that's when
I was kind of like, I really wanna put
a lot of effort into this.
See where I can get but I was lucky
that I had parents that were really willing to do it,
and didn't even question anything.
At the time in Tasmania, with the swimming,
the level it was at there, we thought about it for a while
about moving to Queensland to live.
Here's an opportunity where Ariarne needs to move
to fulfill her swimming ambitions.
Everyone's friendship groups are formed.
It's hard fitting in and making friends
especially on a tail end of high school.
It was literally a case of throwing away our careers,
selling everything up.
Which ones?
-I like the tulips but... -Oh, the orange one.
Yeah.
Since coming here, there's really no looking back.
It's just the best place, best people.
Representing United States of America,
Katie Ledecky.
Ledecky is one of the finest swims you'll ever see.
The youngest ever to win the longest race for women here.
Katie Ledecky is the standard.
She is the benchmark.
You know the times that she has, she's unbelievable,
she's bound for swimming.
Katie Ledecky has never been challenged by anyone.
Ledecky's going to do it.
200 meter, gold.
Without her, I would, no way, possibly be swimming
the way that I am now.
You are watching the best ever 400 meters freestyle.
Look at this girl.
Another world record for Katie Ledecky.
She set this benchmark that's so high,
that people have been trying to chase.
I mean, if she was swimming four minutes,
I reckon I'd be-- I would--
No way I would've been under four minutes already.
ON THE 21ST OF JULY 2019 ARIARNE TITMUS
DEFEATED KATIE LEDECKY TO BECOME
THE 400M FREESTYLE WORLD CHAMPION
So, 400 free, it was probably the most anticipated race
between Katie and I because it was the closest we'd ever been.
I definitely think it was up there
with having been the most nervous
I had ever been for a race.
I just tried to do the race as I had planned and had trust
in the training that I had done.
And when I saw that she was fading,
I just had to pounce and luckily enough
it was good enough to take the gold but I try not
to dwell on that too much, you know.
If you want to challenge it, you've got to make sure
you're holding yourself accountable every session.
I want you to think of all the hard sets that you've done.
I want you to think of the 400 meters in Gwangju,
and I want you to find something on this last part.
To be honest, I find it so crazy that
now I'm in the situation where she's my main rival
because at the time of Rio, I've remember watching
her races, thinking like this chick is nuts, like,
she's just doing stuff that no one's gonna get near.
And I never ever thought at that point
that at the next Olympics I would be the person that
is in the battle with her.
It's a heavy thing to have on your shoulders
but if you can put it in the back of your mind,
not thinking about it.
Just focusing on what you've got to do,
and it happens and well,
that's just an absolute bonus.
You've come from a small place in regional Australia.
to think that you've got a daughter,
who has a potential to, one, swim in the Olympics.
And then to think that, is there a chance of actually
winning an individual
gold medal and create history?
It's...
Huge to think of really, isn't it?
He's a bit of a softy.
It is crazy to think, you know,
we've dominated relays for so long
but no girl has actually won, you know,
an individual since Beijing.
If that's what's motivating us,
we've missed the ball here.
We know what we need to do.
We know what we'd love to do.
It's going to be every day in this pool, up at that gym,
have time in recovery,
if we can get that right.
Maybe.
As a little girl, you kind of always think about,
you know, I wanna go to the Olympics.
I wanna swim for my country,
but you never really understand, like,
what that actually means.
If I'm in the position where I could potentially
come away Olympic champion,
then I'm gonna try and make the most of it.
You gotta be the best you've ever been,
that's what Olympics is.