Australia's Ariarne Titmus chased down Katie Ledecky to stun everyone by clinching the gold and handing her U.S. rival her first ever loss in an Olympic final. However, it was her coach, Dean Boxall, who stole the show with his hyper-energetic no-holds-barred celebrations on Monday.
The moment the Australian 'Terminator' lit up the Tokyo pool by beating Ledecky to clinch the gold in the 400-meter freestyle with the second-fastest time in history Monday, Boxall, jumped out of his box and started celebrating in the most unique way. The video of Boxall has since gone viral on social media.
Ecstatic and Out of Control
Moments after Titmus, who had trailed Ledecky by nearly a full body length at the halfway mark of the eight-lap race, touched the wall ahead of her fierce rival, cameras panned toward Boxall. The over-exited Boxall went crazy and jumped off his chair and exited the box, from where he was watching Titmus.
Dressed in a bright yellow shirt, Boxall first ripped his face mask off and started doing everything to celebrate Titmus' win. He bounced around his box, kicked the air, hammered his fist and shook his hips, as a young girl working as a volunteer approached him and tried to contain his celebration.
However, that didn't help much as the coach was too elated and hyper-active to be contained. Even the commentators broke out in laughter. "I mean he is going crazy. Oh my goodness. He's like putting on a show like Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones or something," the commentator said.
Getting Emotional
That, however, was the more spontaneous reaction from Boxall. He was later overcome with emotions and broke into tears seeing Titmus making him proud with her achievement. He continued crying in joy as Titmus collected her gold medal on the podium at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, with no fans present due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"I could see Dean on the other side bawling his eyes out," Titmus, 20, said, according New York Post quoting AFP.
"I don't really feel the hype, it's more you guys. I just try to race the best I can and ignore everything else," Titmus said.
Titmus was all praise about her coach. "He means everything to me," she said. "Coming into this race we knew what we had to do. I honestly thought I'd be more nervous coming into this but Dean said to me, 'Look, you know how to swim, this is just a big swimming race, you just have to do what you know how to do,'" she added.
