- Star won two gold medals at the Paris Olympics
- Shocking news put her career in perspective
Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus has opened up about the cancer scare that changed the way she thinks about her body and left her convinced that what she does in the pool is “irrelevant” compared to becoming a mother.
Titmus’ achievements place her among the elite of Australian swimmers in Olympic history.
She is the first woman in almost a century to successfully defend the 400m freestyle title, and the first Australian woman to win consecutive Olympic titles in any swimming event since Dawn Fraser, who won the 100 from 1956 to 1964. meter freestyle at three consecutive Olympic Games.
Gold medals in the 200 and 400 meters freestyle, including ‘the race of the century’ against American Katie Ledecky on the opening night of the competition in Paris, have made her one of the all-time Olympic greats.
However, the 24-year-old almost didn’t make it to the Paris Games after scans during an injury scan revealed two benign tumors on her ovaries.
The prospect of infertility reminded Titmus that having a family was far more important to her than a swimming career and changed her relationship with her body.
‘It put a lot of things into perspective for me. My body is not just a vehicle for training, the purpose of my body is actually to carry a child one day,” she said. Inherited.
‘And that really touched me, it made me realize how much I want to be a mother, and it almost made swimming seem a bit irrelevant at that moment.
Ariarne Titmus (pictured) says her health scare reminded her that starting a family one day is much more important to her than her swimming career
Titmus had surgery ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics to remove tumors from an ovary after an MRI revealed a growth
‘But then I also thought: ‘You know what? I’m in a top position going into these Games, I’m great at defending my titles and coming home with gold medals. Bad things can happen in life all the time and throw you off course, so make the most of this opportunity.”
“I think I just went crazy after that operation.”
Titmus now has a different outlook on life and says her future family is much more important than the Olympic gold medals she has won.
“I’ve always wanted to be a mother, but the health scare has probably made me realize how much I want it,” she said.
The swimming champion says her body’s purpose is to one day carry a child
Titmus says she would trade all her Olympic gold medals to have a child
‘I would give up every gold medal I’ve ever won to have a child.
‘I just have such maternal instincts, and I think the fear that I might gain even more weight at the prospect of losing the ovary was very real.
“I’m so lucky to have the best mom in the world, and I just want to be that one day.”