Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About The Stellar Podcast.

I'm Sarah Lamarquin, your host, and every week I sit down with some of the biggest names in the country because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come to Something to talk about.

When Arion Titmus announced her retirement a few weeks ago, the news dominated headlines across the nation.

At twenty five, the world champion has called time on a swimming career that led her to a world record which she still holds to this day, thirty three international medals, eight of them from the Olympics, four Golds, three silvers and one bronze.

There was no injury, no defeat, just a choice and a new life waiting on the other side.

Today, for the first time, Arianne reveals why she chose to walk away while still at the top of her game.

In this episode of the Stellar Podcast, she opens up about everything that has brought her to this new chapter of life, her partner, a recent move interstate from Brisbane to Melbourne, and shares what's next both at home and at work, including a rather confronting star turn in an upcoming reality series.

Arion Titmas Welcome to the Stellar podcast.

Thanks for having me, Sarah, our first Stella podcast.

How fun, I know.

But the sixth time that you have worked with Stella.

Today you're on the cover.

This particular conversation is to mark this momentous occasion of you announcing your retirement from competitive swimming.

But Arion, the first time that you worked with Stella was back in twenty nineteen.

I remember actually shooting that first piece for Stella.

It was at the Carla Hotel in Brisbane, and I remember thinking, this is the coolest thing ever, or I've really made it, you know.

I think that must have been after I first became world champion, and I think my life started to certainly change then.

But I remember doing the cover after Tokyo when I first won my first Olympic gold with the gold dress, and I think that was a pivotal moment for me.

After that shoot, I think I worked with a photographer that really helped me own myself and have confidence behind the camera.

And now I've had so much experience to this sort of thing, i feel like I've almost found like this alter ego of myself.

It's like I am this other side of me comes out and I actually really enjoy being behind the camera now doing this sort of thing.

It's a way to express yourself.

I love the fashion side of things when I get to shoot now, and as an athlete, it's almost a little bit like of you know, dress ups when you get to do this sort of thing.

So I've actually leant into it and really enjoyed this side of my career that I've kind of popped into.

Do you have a name for your alter ego?

I mean, Beyonce, for instant, famously has a name for the persona that she channels when she's doing that sort of thing.

What about you?

Oh No, I've never actually thought of that.

But it's funny though, because someone in my management team came to a shoot with me once and they'd never really seen me before behind the camera and they said, any like, you've got the moves, and I was like, well, you have to practice these, but sometimes it's nerve wracking when you've got people about you're friends with or a part of your team watching you shoot.

But I think you just got to own it.

So maybe I should come up with a bit of an alter ego name.

Well, you're certainly going through a transformative time in your life, so good time to think about that.

I always think when I like millions of Australians and the at home spectator watching people like yourself in competing in the Olympics and those global moments like that, and that not only for.

The swimmers do you have the eyes of the world.

Upon you and the expectations of a whole country upon you, but you're there in your swimwear as well.

And I imagine arian as a young person, as a woman, just as a human, the confidence and the you know, just block out all the white noise that it would take even from that aspect.

So I'm not even talking about the actual substance of what you do there, but just the fact that so many people are watching you.

It's such a physically vulnerable moment.

I imagine that it's not surprising to hear that, whether it's on the dance floor or on the set of a cover shoot for a major magazine, that you've obviously had to learn to channel a real in a confidence with that sort of thing.

Yeah.

I think that growing up around the pool, you almost get used to being in your togs, an abnormal comfortability kind of being half naked, you know.

I think that even in my life outside of sumin.

You know, when we're around pulldak, we would deck change, so put your towel around you and change on pull deck and not even flinch.

But for the average person that that would be quite a vulnerable setting.

And so I've found in my life outside of swimming, because I've just been so used to walking around in togs my whole life, I probably have, you know, I've got no inhibitions really, So I think that when you're behind the block at an Olympic Games in these race suits that certainly aren't flattering, I think to myself, you know what, Like I think racing the best in the world is probably a bit of bit more of a task than worrying about how I look in these suits.

But also we're all in the same boat.

You know, every eight girls lined up behind the blox is in these same skin type suits that dig into the wrong spots and make you know, they're not the most comfortable things either.

But I've just grown up with my with it in my sport, and it's like any sport, you know.

I guess tennis players wear cute, little fine outfits, short skirts, and you know a lot of their fashion choices are also commented on as well, So I think in a lot of sports now there is that aspect where people could comment on the way that you look.

But like I said before, I think that just having that confidence and love for yourself is really important when your body is on show.

Let's me ask you now a little bit about the substance of your career and what has made you a champion.

And we've just had the Melbourne Cup in Australia, obviously described as the race that stops in the nation around.

You were the person that.

Stopped a nation a few short weeks.

Ago when you announced that you had decided to retire from swimming.

It was literally front page news on every news side, every newspaper in the country, led all of the national news bulletins, made news internationally.

Were you expecting that level of response to your news.

I think I knew it would be a shock to a lot of people.

It was quite out of the blue per se for the average person, but I certainly wasn't expecting the reception I received.

Like I remember the morning that.

I hit post at eight am Brisbane time, I remember within half an hour, all over social media there was already articles and clips, and I was thinking to myself, how people pulled this together so quickly.

I just didn't.

Expect it to spread like wildfire, and I just never expect I was a little bit worried about how it would be received.

You know, I was at the top of my game, still only twenty five, and I was worried that people weren't going to understand why.

Although it doesn't matter what other people think, I was a little bit concerned that, you know, the wider public wouldn't understand my reasoning.

But it was actually the opposite.

I really, honestly haven't had one person say to me or going through messages or comments asking me why.

They've all been so supportive of my decision and can probably try and understand without realizing how tough it is being an Olympic swimmer.

But they've just been so supportive and that was the one thing that I was blown away with.

But also, you know, I don't think I've realized the impact that I've had on people until their retirement.

You know, I knew that winning Olympic gold and racing for your country you have such an impact on sports culture, and you know that in Australia, but just I couldn't believe the amount of impact I'd had on people in their personal lives, and so many messages from parents saying, you know, my daughter or my son they took up swimming or they believed in themselves more because of you.

And I tried as best as I could to read as many as I could, but honestly, it was bigger and better, you know, than I ever expected it to be.

And I just felt, you know, really charge that I had that response.

Oh, that's so lovely, and it doesn't come as a surprise to me.

I don't think to hear that you'd heard from so many people about the impact that you had, but it's really gratifying to hear that the impact you've had on everyone's lives, in so many young people's lives in particular, has been brought home to you with this announcement.

Oh absolutely, And I think, you know, I remember when I had I told all my sponsors before I announced it, because I felt like they deserved to know before the rest of the world, and I rang all of them personally, and my manager said to me, you know, they've all said to me, we never expected Arnie to do that, like she didn't have to do that, but I felt like that was the right thing to do.

And I realized in that moment that I think being a good person and showing good sportsmanship, and being gracious in victory and defeat, and just being yourself all the time in front of the world, I think that's really gotten me a long way.

I don't think it's just been my performances in the pool.

I think it's the way that I've carried myself that's probably made people follow my career and support me.

And I realized that in the moment that I retired in the next coming days, that so many people weren't even messaging me about my swimming, they were messaging me about how I'd carried myself.

And I just feel really proud of that.

I probably didn't realize I had that much impact, but that was a really proud moment.

And I think there are time and.

Also is probably the biggest celebration you can ever have in your career.

Over a couple of days, you know, spand over a couple of days, there's so many stats I never realized about myself, and I just, yeah, I had really tried to soak it all up.

I think this outpouring of love and support.

Hopefully can ask in that for a little bit longer.

Yeah, And I think another thing also is I'm getting used to when people when I have, you know, even little forms when you write your occupation.

I've just been so used to writing athlete, and I think, what do I write now, you know.

Past athlete.

So it's little changes like that, or even on my suitcases and I'm going through the airport, I still have all my you know, Australia Swim team tag on them, and I'm like, do I stip them off?

And I'm like, no, I Am not snipping them off.

You know, I'm proud of them.

So little changes like that too that I'm slowly going to have to get used to.

But yeah, I'm going to soak up, you know, the celebration per se as long as I can, because it's probably been the hardest decision but also the most special time in my life making this decision.

Aroon.

You're saying, amid that reaction, you had expected that people would be asking why because you were and have been at the absolute top of your game.

You're only twenty five, and I think a lot of people had expected to see you compete, you know, in LA for instance, in twenty twenty eight, and I, like I'm sure every professional person in your circle but also us amateur at home spectators knew that that would also be another world breaking performance, no doubt that we would see in LA.

So I am going to be the person that asks why, why now?

And what's the psychology of picking that moment of when to make such a huge decision.

Yeah, there's lots of different elements and many different things that went into the decision.

I mean, first of all, I always intended to go to LA.

I totally believed that I could go three in a row in the four hundred.

That was my ultimate goal, and when I first won in Tokyo, that was what I saw for my future, going to the three games and in the four hundred, going back to back to back, and even in the two hundred after Tokyo, Like I thought I could have gone back to back to back in the two hundred, but when in silver in Paris stopped that run.

But I made the decision about eight.

Months before Paris that I would be having a twelve month break.

After Paris, I was just.

Running on fumes after the twenty twenty three World Championships.

I was basically drawing every sceric out of myself to get myself to those games.

I just, you know, people don't realize that I first represented Australia when I was fourteen.

I've been training professionally and sixty five kilometers plus since I was thirteen years old, So it's not that I'm twenty five and I'm so young.

My athletic career has actually been representing this country for a decade long period.

So there was that sort of There was that in terms of why I think I was tired.

And then when I was on my twelve month break, there was a lot of drastic changes in my life.

One of them was I had so many career opportunities pop up outside of swimming that I had been leaning into while I was swimming, But when I had the time to actually focus on them without having to worry about training, I realized that a lot of passion live there and I just wanted to soak up every.

Opportunity I had.

But then in my personal life, and this was really the crux of the decision.

You know, I've lived my life not caring that I never got to spend birthdays with all my friends, or never having to go to any family events because I've got to be in bed for training, or not really enjoying my time with family over Christmas or Easter because I'm just you know, focused on training the next day, because we trained over Christmas and Easter and New Year periods.

And then I also met my partner right after the Olympics, and so I just wasn't willing to go back to the life that I always had where I made the decision to put my family second.

You know, swimming has always been number one, and they have always understood that, and you have to be quite a selfish person to be an athlete, and I just wasn't willing to sacrifice that time with them anymore.

And the life that I've built with Mac, I wasn't willing to put that on the back burner.

I think that, you know, although I've had so many goals in my athletic career to chase, I had done that all.

And my ultimate goal is really just to live life with the people that I love and have fun and enjoy their company and be around my family.

And I just think it was time for me to put that first.

And I think if I hadn't been Olympic champion or a world record holder, this wouldn't be the decision I'm making.

But because I.

Can look at myself and know that I've absolutely done everything you can in the sport, and winning more medals wasn't going to change the way.

That I feel.

I just felt like the right time to step away.

That is such a fabulous answer.

It has answered about seven questions that I was going to ask you that I don't feel I need to now.

So thank you so much for taking us inside that decision.

When you had made that decision, when was the final moment?

You don't need to literally give me the exact date, although you might remember it.

And what's been the process Arion, in terms of you mentioned earlier obviously speaking to some of your sponsors, but within your loved ones, your family, your close circle, your coach of course, Dean Boxel, who's also become a really well known Australian figure because of his professional relationship with you.

When did you, for instance, tell someone like Dean and what was his response?

So, when Dean and I started mapping out when I had to be back at training, he said to me earlier in the year.

I think you really have to be slowly getting back into the water in May, and this would have.

Been around April.

And I said to him, look, I'm just not ready to have that conversation yet.

I'm not ready to get back in the water.

I need you to give me a little bit more time.

It got to the end of May, beginning of June.

He said, you know, honey, you have to get back in now.

And I just didn't want to engage in the conversations about swimming.

I had no fire to get back in.

It wasn't that i'd lost any love for the sport.

You know, I love swimming.

I still have been swimming this whole time, but just not the way I used to.

But I just didn't have any drive to, you know, go back to that unrelenting pursuit that I've always known.

So then, when I commentated the World Championships in July, and I wasn't there, and I wasn't a part of the team, and I was on the sideline per se and in a very very different role, I actually didn't feel any desire to be a part of the team.

You know, I watched my races and you know, I was just a fan of the sport and didn't feel a sense of fomo per se because I wasn't there.

And I think when that.

Happened, I was like, it'd be too hard and not worth it for me to go back just to win more medals.

And I think it's something that I've seen and a lot of athletes in the past, they're just continuing to, you know, compete for the sake of medals, even though they're not loving it like they used to, or their their body is against them and they're suffering injuries, and I'm just not willing to go through that.

I think the most important thing is in life is to be happy, and what's the point if going back isn't going to make you happy?

And I found a lot of strength in that decision.

And also like when I came to that decision, it would have been probably end of August that I came to the decision, and then I was starting to tell my manager, and that was a big thing, telling him because then it kind of made it quite real.

I sat into the decision and realized once I'd told people, it was the right thing to do.

But with Dean, actually I thought he was going to try and bring me back, you know, say come on, Arnie, you know you know you can win another one.

And he never did that.

He was actually the total opposite.

He was like, I get it.

He said, I totally get it.

You got to do what's right for you.

And he was so supportive.

And I would have never expected that from Dean because he's been the one my entire career riding my coattail and pushing me and getting me to the pool and being basically the motivator for me every day of my life while I've been swimming, and he was the opposite.

He said, go and live life, have fun.

So and my family were the same.

I felt no push to go back to swimming.

They understand how hard it is, and so they said, we totally get it and feel very very grateful in that sense.

So you've sound like you've really worked through that, Arion quite prepared for that sort of feeling or any regret coming up when you're seeing some of your rivals and your colleagues competing.

I think that will be the biggest test.

And although I'm very content with my decision, I will say it will be a strange feeling not being there in La competing and with the stadium.

That's proposed for the pool with a.

Crowd of forty thousand people, that was actually very enticing.

I think that swimming in front of a crowd like that so once in a lifetime opportunity and thinking about missing out on that was it played into it the decision too.

But for me, that's not enough to go back to the life that I've always lived, and I had to consider a lot of things.

You know, Ultimately, this has been the biggest decision of my life.

So I had to basically, you know, say so many hypotheticals to myself and you know, think about moments in the future and whether I was going to be okay in those moments.

Not being there and LA is a big one, and I hope that I am there in some capacity.

But more than anything, I'm excited I actually get to watch the swimming.

Because when you're competing, when I'm competing, I'm competing from day one to day eight and the only session I get to watch is the last night.

And so it's actually going to be great because I'm a fan of swimming.

I get to now sit back and watch and see why everyone loves the swimming and gets amongst them, and the last time I watched an Olympic Games was you know, over nearly ten years ago.

So I'm excited.

And after the break, Arianne on what's next, including a new boyfriend and a new.

Life in Melbourne.

In these early months of you having made that decision, what is your relationship like with the pool now?

I certainly don't jump to get in the pool.

It's not probably my first pick to do at the moment because I'm actually loving having dry hair.

I've had wet hair every day for as long as I can remember, so I've enjoyed that.

You know, I get a nice blur d right at last three days.

But I've still been swimming here and there.

You know, it's actually really good for you.

And I obviously love the feel of the water.

And my partner Mac actually him and I have gone swimming a couple of times and he thinks it makes him feel better to being in the water.

So once it comes into the summer months, we want to try and go swimming two or three times a week together.

And rather than just going to the gym and lifting weights or going running, I think keeping swimming in my routine it will give me that sense of routine because that's what I've had my whole life, such a routine schedule.

But also I don't want to lose touch with the water.

You know, it's really all I've known my whole life.

And the reason why i started competing was because I had a natural affiliation with the water.

I just loved being in it.

So for me, I don't want to just stop swimming completely.

I just didn't.

I didn't want to go back to the immense pressure and unrelenting pursuit to, you know, be the best in the world, because it is extremely tough.

So I'm happy to go and do my two or three k with my fins and paddles and float along for about an hour.

I also wanted to ask you, Aroon, about the reaction that you've had globally and here in Australia from fellow elite athletes, both those who are also retired and you know, outside of swimming as well.

And then your most recent fellow teammates in representing Australia.

Your last cover of Stella, you're front and center with the Golden Girls swimming just ahead of Paris.

That was Emma McKee and Kaylee mckinn.

And Molly O'Callaghan.

What's been the reaction from some of your peers.

Yeah, it's been so positive, so many messages, and a lot of them actually said to me, I didn't think you were going to come back, Arnie, you look so happy.

So it was funny that they could see that in me.

But you know, messages from Emma, Molly and Kaylee all beautiful and they're all Olympic gold medalists in their own right.

But beyond that, you know past swimmers who I've now become friends with, and even rivals.

You know, Katie Ladecki was one of the first people to message me congratulations and you know, will miss you on the pull deck.

And I think that that rivalry that we've had, but also the humility of the rivalry, I think I'm really proud of that.

I think we've both carried ourselves, you know, so well and had great sportsmanship and so for her to go out of her way and message that was really nice.

But yeah, it's funny who comes out of the woodworks as well, And when you make a big announcement like this, messages from people from all walks of my life that I haven't spoken to in so long, So it's actually nice though, when you hear from someone you haven't heard from for a while.

That's so interesting.

Do you think that you've heard from more people from different parts of your life in response to your retirement news than say, when you won your first gold medal or those big breakout moments that you would imagine everyone's reaching out.

Well, when I'm competing, I actually usually delete all social media off my phone, so I after the Olympics, I would have hardly seen any of the messages because they would have been and gone almost and it would have been impossible to go all the way down to the bottom and.

Read them all.

But because I had you know, Instagram on my Facebook on my phone this whole time, my phone actually crashed two days in a row, had like a and like a red things like lying down the screen.

It just I don't know, maybe it couldn't cope.

I was going through like three charge is a day because I was trying to reply to everyone, like I really wanted to read all the messages of people that I knew personally and get back to the all.

But yeah, like primary school teachers who I still speak to, you know, people that I went to school with in my home in Tazzy, you know, just swimming legends, other athletes from other sports, and actually a few of the messages from other athletes from the paras Olympic team, but also were extremely successful in their own right, you know, Olympic gold medalists messaged me and said, you know, watching you, Arnie was inspiration for me, and I never even realized realized that.

So yeah, I just felt very, very humbled reading them all.

We talk a lot here about high profile women in all professions having a real solidarity behind the scenes and also a competitiveness of course, but being pitted against one another, and obviously that's something that you've had to contend with, of course, I mean obviously as a rival, but of course famously with you and Molly for instance.

So will that shift that dynamic a little bit?

Do you think now that you have retired and are no longer competing, will that even make it something that that real sort of female solidarit.

I'm certainly not suggesting you have to be best friends with everyone that you know you ever meet, None of us do.

But that whole narrative I suppose about, you know, do you and this person get along, how is that professional rival replay off, you know behind the scenes in the locker room.

I assume that sort of puts an end to that trope, do you think, Oh?

Absolutely.

I mean I've always prided myself as someone that was the ultimate competitor in the pool, but then out of the water, I've tried to treat everyone the same and just be a good person and be a great training partner or a good teammate.

But I have actually noticed that shift in myself.

You know, when you're a competitor and you've got people around you that in your events swimming extremely well, you almost feel this like fire in you.

Yes, as a competitor, but also we're looking at them as a person, and that's gone.

It's actually quite bizarre.

And that started to also go before I made the decision, And that's part of the reason why I knew too.

You know, in this country, I am so proud to be Australian and to represent our country.

So I would never be someone that would want people to not ever reach my records or not have the success that I had, because I want Australia to be the best in the world and we are.

You know, I've left the sport.

Now, Emma's left the sport, Kate Campbell's left the sport.

There's been a number of female swimmers that have left the swim team the past two years.

There's a massive shift now in seeing younger athletes come through, and I think we want to see that.

We don't want to see the team stare.

We want to see the success and the success of the women's team.

I feel so incredibly proud to have been a part of that and hopefully hopefully contributed to the dynasty that's continuing.

I mean, our relay teams are, you know, the best in the world, and it's because of that competitive rivalry that we've also created amongst ourselves domestically, and I hope that continues because that's what has made us so successful and have such depth across the board.

I wanted to ask you about some of the standout memories for you professionally from your career, and just as a prompter for that, specifically ask you about Paris Area, because, as you say, at that time you had decided that you'd be taking a twelve month break, but clearly hadn't made a decision, so wouldn't have known for sure that that would be your last Olympics.

And I referenced earlier literally going out at the top of your game.

My boss, Mick carroll As ran the Olympics coverage for our company, and was, you know, they're rallying all the journals for the last few Olympic games.

And I mentioned to him that I.

Was speaking to you this morning, and actually, I don't know if his consent to ask you this question, but I'm going to, if that's all right, because I just loved it.

I just felt it really channeled the energy of so many of your fans.

And he said, I think that four hundred meter gold was the meanest, toughest, most giant up yours to the swimming world I've ever seen.

She must be proud of that.

What did her dad say to her when he saw her?

After that, I wanted to pass on that question if.

Oh, I'm trying to think about what dad said to me.

I mean, the first time I saw Dad was with my mum and my sister Mia, and it was in Paris.

It was incredible.

The podium was basically amongst the crowd, you know, we had crowd all around us, and I could see my family literally twenty meters from me from the podium, and I think that they were just so so so proud.

But also I never spoke to my mum and dad about my swimming.

They never knew like what sort of form I was in or how I was feeling.

We never spoke about swimming.

That was a deal that we've had my entire career.

So they would just say to me, good luck and have fun.

And people would ask them, or how do you think she's going to go?

And they go, oh, you know, I think we think that she can do it.

But you know, I'd never really told them how I was tracking, so I can see why they would get so nervous in the stands.

But I think the first thing that was said to me was they're just so proud, because really, you know, I felt immense pressure for that four hundred to win.

You know, my entire swimming career, I was never afraid of losing.

I never feared not having the outcome that I wanted.

But I remember before the four hundred, I actually had a slight thought like, shit, what if I don't win tomorrow?

You know, I'm asue in this country to get Australia off to the best start possible, and I'd been very unwell the month prior to the Olympics.

I had RSV in the training camp and I couldn't train properly, so I didn't really know how I was swimming.

So that was the first time that I really had a doubt.

So for me to get up there and swim the way I did, I was so proud.

Is there another moment in your career that really stands out as you're reflecting on all that you have achieved professionally in the wake of announcing your retirement.

Well, there's two swims that I'm so proud of because of the circumstances.

They were under twenty twenty three World Championships.

I remember leading into that meet some of Macintosh, Canadian prodigy.

She broke my world record a few months before that.

Meet, and Ladecki was swimming really well, and all the swimming media around the world was saying that I was going to get bronze, and I wasn't really tracking as well as the other two, and I hadn't raced for a few months, so they didn't really know how I was going.

But I was feeling really good and used all of that as fuel and then I came out and won that race by almost four body lengths and broke the world record by almost a second.

So that would have been my best four hundred swim.

And I've never felt so good in a race, like everything just came together.

It was perfect.

I could keep putting my foot down and there was fuel in the tank.

It was just so good.

And then my two hundred freestyle world record at Olympic Trials last year.

I remember the year prior at World Championships, I won silver in the two hundred.

Molly beat me for the first time, and I guess I was dethroned per Ses, the Australian top two hundred meters swimmer, and she wrote the world record, and so I didn't like that as an athlete, so I totally used that as fuel as well, and then came out and ye smash the world record at trials and swamming an incredible swim under tough circumstances at Olympic Trials.

So they would be my two top moments.

I reckon, well, look, let's talk a little bit about life now, what it looks like, because you and I are speaking and what it's going to look like.

Are really so curious about how you're going to channel all of that drive, all of that energy, all of that killer instinct into what is next?

Do you think whatever it is and talk specifics in a moment, but do you think whatever it is that lies ahead of you area and that that same energy and commitment is going to be there, or as you've talked about, some of your priorities are shifting, and do you think that you'll be have a slightly less driven approach for one of the better way of putting it.

Yeah, I think that I'll always give one hundred percent to everything that's just in me.

Like I've always been an absolute try hard So I know whatever I do, I'll give my best and I'll only, you know, engage in things that I that I love and I want to do because life's too short not to do something that you love.

But I do think that my work life balance is going to be very different.

You know, work is not the priority for me in my life anymore.

I have passion for a lot of other things outside of swimming, and so excited for the opportunities that I have that might come my way.

But you know, I think that work life balance is something that I really want to get right.

So I am not driven to be the absolute, like top swimming commentator in the world.

And I'm not like on this ruthless pursuit to like absolutely be the best.

I just want to learn as much as I can and oak up every moment, but just live life a little bit.

You'll have been working as a commentator for the last sort of couple of years, and you are a natural.

And I don't I'm not blowing smoke there.

You really are.

You have a real screen presence, obviously, notwithstanding clearly the knowledge and expertise and unique lived experience that you bring to it.

It is literally in your genes.

Your father, of course, is a television news presenter.

Is this something around now that you've got the time and the focus that will be something that you'd be interested in exploring in a more permanent manner as one of your career opportunities that lie ahead.

Yeah, I think that television is definitely a space that I really enjoy.

And I never.

Thought that I would follow in dad's footsteps.

I never thought that I would end up in this world.

But when I first had, you know, an opportunity in TV, I commentated world short course almost four years ago, now I was twenty one years old, and I just got thrown in the deep end and it just came so naturally to me.

And it's hard, you know, commentary and sports presenting is hard.

You've really got to know your stuff and you've got to say it on your feet and get it out and have a presence and not be awkward, and it is tough.

But it's something that I do really enjoy.

And you know, I think live TV as well, it's almost like you get this thrill just as close to competing in sport, and so I love that element to it as well, but you know, in swimming per se.

I also I'm quite passionate about, you know, bringing a fresh voice to the sport.

And like you said, I have so much lived experience and I have knowledge that not a lot of people have about the sport, and so I want to feed that to the people at home and explain things to them in a way that they can understand, but also teach people about swimming and the techniques and the stats behind it all and help people become more in tune with the sports.

So I'm extremely passionate about that, but also not just swimming.

You know, I worked on the Australian Open broadcast this year.

I've been part of the Wide World Sports show the past couple of years, so it's not just swimming.

I definitely have a passion for sport in this country, women's sport especially, so definitely that's a space that I want to lean more into.

And I understand you're also going to be appearing on an upcoming reality show on nine called Sharks.

Sounds ominous.

What can you tell me about that?

Well, it's probably my biggest, not my biggest challenge when you a limp a goal with my biggest challenge, But this is seriously facing my biggest fear for people that don't know me, I.

Actually, like am so petrified of the ocean.

I've never ever really swum in the ocean, and I thought when this opportunity came to me to swim with sharks out in the open ocean and not caged, I initially said no way, But then I thought about it and I thought to myself, you know what, my whole life, I've although been put out outside my comfort zone in such high pressure and high stake environments, I've always thrived in those moments, and this is a chance for me to actually grow so much as a person and step outside my comfort zone and try and face my fears and hopefully look at this animal in a different light.

You know, I'm petrified of sharks, and so if I can go there and come away with a little bit of a different attitude towards them and understand that they're not these big scary things that we all think they are, you know, I'll be happy.

But also it's once in a lifetime opportunity getting to be so up close and personal to these massive animals, taking the feary out of it, and so once in a lifetime, so I'm yeah, I'm excited for that.

And look, luckily you can swim very very very very very fast, so there is that as well.

I don't know it might be much help with a shark, though.

As you and I are speaking, you have literally also just moved house.

You were born in Tasmania but had been based in Brisbane for a decade now due to work, and now moved to Melbourne.

So would you I know that you guard your life, you know, fairly privately, of course, is your right.

Don't want to overstep, but what can you tell us about your personal life, home life and that side of things as again, now that your focus is shifting and you are going through the biggest transition in your I imagined professional and personal life.

Yeah it is, you know, not even metaphorically, but it is a total new chapter for me.

I Yeah, I met Mac right after Samen and it was almost like I met him at the perfect time.

You know, he never watched the Olympics and didn't know who I was, so it was actually quite nice.

It was very humbling and he just got to know me for me and did long distance this whole time, which has been really tough.

And I've been so busy as well.

Even though I hadn't been training, my life was probably more busy.

So yeah, once I knew I'd made the decision to stop swimming, I didn't have to be in Queensland to be with my coach Dean.

I thought, well, he has to be here for his work.

I don't want to be away from him.

So yeah, I made the shift to Melbourne.

I still will be up in Queensland a little bit here and there.

All my family are up there, but you know, there's probably more work opportunities here for me as well.

With the keynote speaking and TV.

But yeah, moved down to Melbourne.

I'm not so too pleased with the weather, but Melbourne has lots to offer.

And yeah, I'm very, very excited to be starting this new chapter.

But just you know, prioritizing my life with my family too.

Got a few holidays planned which I'm excited for.

I really haven't holidayed my entire swimming careers, so looking forward to that.

And just yeah, enjoying life and not taking it too seriously.

I asked you a bit earlier about your relationship with the pool now, and just to finish up, just in terms of some of the practicalities of your day to day life around if I just could finish up by asking you, you know, what time are you getting up on an average day now as opposed to you know, the previous decade plus of your life.

I know, well, I've been waking up in the fours or fives for as long as I can remember, But it's around seven now, sometimes in the sixes if I need to fit in a little bit of a gym sessh before my day.

But I thought to myself, you know what I can sleep in because I've been waking up early my whole life.

So I try to be up.

In the sevens, and I thought that that was still quite early, but I've since realized that most people wake up at six because they have to get stuff done before they go to work.

And I was like, oh, I'm actually a bit of a sleeper in er that I've figured out.

I actually like my bed a lot more than I realized.

So I'm keeping the sleep insto the seven for as long as I can.

If anyone hasn't a couple of sleep ins, it has to be you around titmas.

I've got to say that any other sort of just really tangible observations in your life in these first few months having made this decision of things apart from sleep ins, apart from being able to not have your hair wet every single day, any other kind of immediate observations for you.

There's a couple you know, when you're an athlete, you really don't drink, so it's nice to be able to go out for dinner and have a couple of glasses of wine.

And you know, that's enough for me, Like I don't need much, so a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, that's really nice.

Being at home and actually enjoying cooking dinner and taking my time and using that as a bit of a relaxation at the end the day.

Usually, you know, I love cooking, but usually when i'd get home from training, it you know, close to seven thirty eight o'clock at night, the last thing I want to do is cook and so I'm actually really enjoying that.

But another thing too is my skin is so much better without all the sun damage and the chlorine that it's constantly in, and so I've definitely been loving that being out of the sun a lot.

You know, I used to spend eight hours in the sun every day, so that's been a lot better for my health not being out in the open sun and in chlorine all day.

And look, living in Melbourne it's really going to help with that.

I'm just saying, you know, one of the best places in Australia to live if you're wanting to take a little bit of a break from the harsh realities of the Australians sun.

Good for the complexion.

Arion Titmus.

It has been such a pleasure to speak to you.

Thank you so much for your time, you know, huge congratulations on behalf of Australia.

I'm just appointing myself the spokesperson Australia and all of your fans internationally on all you've achieved, and thank you for sharing your reflections on this milestone moment.

I cannot wait to see what you do next, and please come back and give us an update on it.

And you can find out more about Arion on her instagram.

We'll have a link to that in our show notes.

Arion, thank you again for joining me today on the Stellar Podcast.

Thank you so much.

Sarah, thank you for joining me today.

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