She won 17 medals
Swimming legend ends career
October 16, 2025 – 7:28 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Ariarne Titmus unexpectedly ends her swimming career at the age of 25. The two-time Olympic champion speaks openly about the reasons – and a moment that she would have wished had been different.
“The Terminator” ends: Australia’s swimming star Ariarne Titmus has ended her career. The 25-year-old wrote on Instagram that the decision was “really difficult” for her: “I have always loved swimming, it has been my passion since I was a child.”
At the Olympic Games and World Championships, Titmus won a total of 17 medals (including eight golds), but before the Olympics in Paris she also had to overcome a health crisis when she had a benign ovarian tumor removed.
Known as the “Terminator,” Titmus won gold in the 400m freestyle at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, defeating the American Katie Ledecky both times in the so-called “race of the century.” In doing so, Titmus became the first Australian swimmer since Dawn Fraser in 1964 to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same discipline.
“I never thought that Paris would be my last Olympic Games. And with the knowledge I have now, I wish I had maybe enjoyed this last race a little more,” Titmus wrote, saying her health problems had “really shaken” her and “made a difference” in her.
It was the “first time that I thought about things outside of swimming. Throughout my swimming career I always gave it my all, and that was the only way I could become the athlete I am today,” said Titmus: “But I think that these health problems made me have to deal with myself more and think about what is most important to me outside of swimming.”
Titmus was “incredible. It’s a privilege to have witnessed a living legend in this sport,” said her compatriot and five-time Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown.