Australian swimming's golden girl thinks she has the best coach in the sport.
In fact, Ariarne Titmus thinks Dean Boxall is the best coach in any sport.
You might remember Boxall completely blowing his stack at the Tokyo Olympics when Titmus stormed home past the legendary Katie Ledecky to win gold in the 400m freestyle.
Aside from being excellent meme fodder, Boxall is something of a swimming swami.
Just ask Titmus.
"I can't really speak for anyone else but I believe that my relationship with Dean is probably the best athlete-coach bond you can have," Titmus told the ABC.
"I feel like we're best mates outside of him being my coach as well, which is really good.
"Like you know when we're at the pool, it's coach/athlete, and then outside of that we are best friends, which I think works really well for us."
Titmus and Boxall are now setting their sights on the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships, which start tomorrow in Adelaide, and it's clear the 21-year-old superstar only wants one man in her corner.
"He's such a unique individual, there's no-one else like him out there, so I think that when we work really well together.
"I'm gonna have no other relationship like that with anyone else, so I'm really grateful to have met Dean and to work with him and have him by my side."
Bond forged over time
The laconic Boxall is slightly less effusive than his swimmer, but clearly puts his athletes — their dreams, their success, their wellbeing — above all else.
When told Titmus believes they are the best athlete-coach duo in sport, the 45-year-old has a wry smile.
"Arnie might need to check some other sports. I think Rafael and Toni were pretty good. I mean, we've got a very good relationship," he says, giving a glimpse of his tennis knowledge.
But he points out the bond forged between he and Titmus didn't happen overnight.
"That [closeness] is why I can push her and she doesn't take offence to any of that.
"But, you know, it's something that's been developed, it wasn't just click the fingers.
"You have to have a lot of trust. That comes with a lot of responsibility as well.
"I mean, she's a great girl but I have a great relationship with most of the guys in the squad, and you have to form that.
"There's a lot of dreams on the line. So you have to dream with them."
'I don't read textbooks, I read my athletes'
Anyone swimmer or coach who watched Titmus's brilliantly executed swim to topple Ledecky in Tokyo would realise how much thought and planning — not to mention hard work — that would have been required to achieve that moment.
But Boxall's undoubted tactical genius doesn't come from a book or a course.
"I don't go and read textbooks, I read my athletes," he says.
"I read the event. I read the competitors. And I'll try and create something.
"I don't do courses. I just read my guys and the sport that's around. I don't think that's a secret."
Boxall relishes his work coaching the St Peter's Western Swim Club for major meets like these national championships.
Some of his other charges include Elijah Winnington, Shayna Jack and Molly O'Callaghan, and Boxall says he has a unique relationship with each one of them.
"Some people think it's a job. It's not a job.
"A job is you get up and you go, 'oh I have Mondayitis'. I don't have Mondayitis, I actually look forward to coming in and seeing the guys, being around them.
"I think they're a great group. I believe in them. They believe in me.
"They believe in St Peters Western. They can't wait to represent Australia. I just love representing Australia, I think it's the greatest thing that you can do."
'That' moment at the Olympics
Boxall says the Olympics were "weird".
He describes the strange feeling of climbing the mountain that is the Olympic Games and then just coming home through COVID isolation and rolling into the next part of the season.
"Because the Olympics was so different, you know, we finished the competition, within 24 hours we're on a chartered flight.
"No alcohol, straight into Howard springs, no alcohol, basically in like a small room. Just waiting to get out. Didn't have an opportunity to have a steak with my mates or beer, or even reflect with the athletes a bit — we were all in different compartments."
Did he mention there was no alcohol?
Boxall says his Hulk-berserker moment was the culmination of all the tension leading up to the Olympics and that particular event.
"I think the moment when I released myself was because of so much build-up, you know Arnie had to deal with a shoulder injury, there's a lot of pressure, you know NBC actually flew out to basically pitch this race as the big race of the Olympics, not just for swimming.
"Even trying to get there through COVID. Like, that was another sort of pressure and stress-out to deal with, having to wear masks, and we had testing every day. And if someone got COVID, they couldn't fly.
He says people connected through that moment amid the fear and isolation of the pandemic.
"I think it was probably like a perfect storm. People were in lockdown watching, probably feeling [they were] wanting to get out the joy watching that race as well.
"That moment with Arnie, it was like a moment where those people in the lounge who are watching, they could stand up and jump and cheer for Australia. I think that is the greatest thing that you can give someone."
