As the sun rose over Logan, a new superstar of the pool was dawning – Mollie O’Callaghan taking home gold in the 200m Olympic swimming final.
Greenbank prodigy O’Callaghan edged out rival Ariarne Titmus in a race that was built as one of the rivalries of the Paris Olympics, Mollie the sprinter vs Arnie the middle-distance queen.
Both have held the world record, and this would be the decider in many people’s eyes.
Visibly nervous, her body shaking by the blocks before the race, O’Callaghan was quickly away.
She held back as a Hong Kong swimmer took the lead, O’Callaghan trusting her training and her trademark blistering finish over the last 50m of the race.
Despite being neck and neck with Titmus for the majority of the contest, in the final throes there looked to be only one possible winner as O’Callaghan stretched to almost a body length clear by the time she hit the final wall.
“I’m doing this for Australia,” she said in a passionate post-race interview. “I’m not doing this for me.”
The humble star emerged from the pool and took Titmus’s hand, raising it in unison as a sign of triumph.
It was the first time since 2004 that Australia had gone first and second in the same race. Mollie was then just 5 months old.
The time was good, 1 minute, 53.27 seconds, a new Olympic record.
That was more than a second outside the world record swum by Titmus at the Australian Swimming Trials in Brisbane in June.
But it didn’t matter.
This wasn’t about time. It was about Olympic Gold.
And with the blue riband 100m still to come, she could repeat her world championship double, which is a rare feat.
She also has the 4 x 200m relay, in which Australia will be hot favourites.
Already, O’Callaghan is the youngest Australian swimmer ever to have four gold medals, having been a heat swimmer in two winning relay teams in Tokyo.
Now, she’s set to take Paris by storm and could well be the latest Australian poster competitor, emerging from the shadows of others who’ve stepped up in a great Australian swimming tradition, including her idol and Australia’s most-crowned swimmer Emma McKeon.
