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AAP
AAP
Sport
Steve Larkin

Titmus' coach goes wild at gold medal swim

Coach Dean Boxall's spontaneous celebration impressed after Ariarne Titmus' famous gold medal swim. (AAP)

Pity the Japanese Olympic usher trying to restrain Australia's eccentric swim coach Dean Boxall.

The local official had no chance. An Australian wouldn't even have bothered trying to rein in Boxall, the ball of energy coach of Ariarne Titmus.

When relaxed, Boxall buzzes like a de-tuned radio.

When his star swimmer beats an American legend like Katie Ledecky to win an Olympic gold, Boxall loses his mind.

Boxall's celebrations at Tokyo Aquatic Centre on Monday were wild, ripping off his mask and tearing through the seats in scenes that quickly went viral on social media.

Titmus shrugged off her coach's reaction as: "classic Dean".

"That is just the way Dean is," Titmus said.

"He's very passionate about what he does and he becomes quite animated. This is just as much for him as it is for me.

"He has sacrificed a lot of his family life with his kids and his wife and his job; he puts 100 per cent into being a swimming coach and I would not be here without him."

At an Olympics where crowds, and cheering, are banned, an usher tried to hold Boxall back, only to relent to the crazed Australian.

Boxall is an enigmatic motivator with brutal training regimes, famed for seeking the animal within the athlete.

And he and Titmus had long been hunting this Olympic gold medal

"The thing that made me quite emotional was actually seeing him at my medals ceremony," Titmus said.

"He was crying. And I was trying to contain the emotions.

"But it's good to see how much it means to him."

Swimming Australia put a microphone on Boxall at the pre-Games training camp in Cairns. The deleted scenes would be fascinating.

Those published show Boxall, in a rare still moment, pondering what makes a successful swim coach.

"Catching momentum is the hardest thing," he said.

"You can put in really good training blocks but it's really the confidence that comes with it.

"So you're catching confidence and great work together - and that's the recipe for success.

"Trying to hold momentum is probably the most difficult part of my job."

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