Mollie O'Callaghan equals Ian Thorpe in staggering slice of Aussie history at Paris Olympics
The 20-year-old swimmer appears destined to be Australia's greatest athlete.
At just 20 years old, Mollie O'Callaghan has the equal-second most gold medals of any Australian at the Olympics ever - joining the legendary Ian Thorpe. O'Callaghan was part of the women's 4x200m relay team that triumphed on Thursday night in the Paris pool - giving Australia an eighth gold medal of the Games and O'Callaghan's third.
O'Callaghan has won gold in the 200m freestyle, 4x100m relay and 4x200m relay in Paris, which takes her career tally to five gold medals at the Olympics. Three years ago in Tokyo she won gold in the 4x100m relay and 4x100m medley relay.
Her career tally of five gold medals put her equal with Thorpe, while Emma McKeon (six) is the only Australian with more gold medals at the Olympics. But O'Callaghan can move past Thorpe and go equal with McKeon if she swims in the 4x100m medley relay in Paris.
Even if she doesn't, she appears destined to become Australia's greatest gold medal winner at some stage in her career. Aussie Olympian James Magnussen said earlier this week: “I’ll call it here now. Mollie O’Callaghan will go on to become our greatest Olympian in history."
O'Callaghan also has six medals in total (she also won a bronze in 2021), while McKeon owns 11 and Thorpe and Leisel Jones have nine each. The 20-year-old produced a classy act for teammate Jamie Perkins after Thursday night's race, after Perkins swam the heat but not the final.
O'Callaghan spotted Perkins watching from the stands and draped her gold medal over her teammate's neck. “Jamie is my best friend at training. She’s there for me. She’s been my roommate this whole meet," O'Callaghan said.
"She has trained her arse off to get here. She’s gone through a back injury, done everything possible. I think that gold medal means a lot for me to give to her because it represents what she’s been through and she’s well deserving of it and they make up the team.”
Ariarne Titmus wins fourth gold medal at Olympics
The other members of the triumphant relay team were Ariarne Titmus, Lani Pallister and Brianna Throssell. The gold gives Titmus the fourth of her career (one behind O'Callaghan), while Pallister has her first and Throssell her first as part of a final (she got gold as a relay swimmer in Tokyo).
"I'm proud that they had faith in me to put me last and get the job done," Titmus said about swimming the anchor leg. "It's very, very special up there on the podium with the girls."
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For Pallister, the triumph came after she was forced to withdraw from the 1500m freestyle earlier in the meet due to illness. "I don't know what to say," Pallister told Channel 9 after the race. "These girls are so incredible. I didn't think I'd be part of this relay at the start of the week so to be here standing with them, I don't think I could ask for anything more from my Olympic experience."
Throssell is now a dual Olympic gold medallist, but this is the first she's won after swimming in the final. Her previous gold was for a heat swim in Australia's triumphant women's 4x100m medley team at the Tokyo Games three years ago. "Standing on the podium just makes it that extra special being in the final team," she said.
