Watch coach's wild celebration after Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus wins the gold

published 26 July 2021

If arm pumping and hip thrusting was an Olympic sport, Dean Boxall would be a gold medalist.

Boxall is the coach for Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus, and he put on a show Monday in Tokyo after Titmus defeated U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky in the women's 400-meter freestyle. Titmus trailed Ledecky at the halfway mark of the race, but was able to finish ahead, capturing the title in 3 minutes, 56.69 seconds — the second-fastest time ever recorded. Ledecky won the silver medal with the fourth-fastest time in history: 3 minutes, 57.36 seconds.

Ledecky, the world record holder, was the defending Olympic champion and the person to beat during the race, which explains why Boxall let loose after Titmus' win — he shouted, ripped off his face mask, and began gyrating wildly to the delight of broadcasters. Titmus kept her cool, telling reporters her victory felt "surreal. Crazy when you make this massive plan for something. It's probably the biggest thing you could pull off in your sporting career, so I'm over the moon."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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