ADELAIDE: Australian swimming champion Mollie O’Callaghan broke down in tears and opened up on her struggles in a raw television interview on Wednesday night, weighed down and shattered by the monumental pressure that came with winning a solo Olympic gold medal among other major accolades.

O’Callaghan took out the final of the women’s 200m freestyle at the Australian world championship trials, clocking one minute, 54.43 seconds (1:54.43) in a narrow win over fellow Paris 2024 Olympian Lani Pallister, who recorded 1:54.89 to lower her personal best.

Both qualified for the Singapore world championships in the 200m freestyle, having finished in the top two and met Swimming Australia’s time standard.

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After the race, Cate Campbell, the Australian swimming great and a former Dolphins teammate of O’Callaghan’s, asked the 21-year-old on the Nine broadcast what she made of her swim.

O’Callaghan, who won Olympic gold in the 200m freestyle in Paris and is a notoriously harsh critic of herself, was blunt in her reply.

“Aw, that was awful,” she quipped, laughing and putting a hand over her mouth.

The interview then turned into heartbreak.

Watch the 2025 Australian swimming trials live and free on Nine and 9Now, taking place from June 9-14.

“Look, I’ve had a rough couple of past months,” O’Callaghan said, choking back tears.

Pallister consoled her younger teammate, and O’Callaghan pushed on.

“Tonight was really stressful for me, and I think even though it’s not exactly the time I want, it’s [been] hard to like come back [since the Paris Games],” the Logan product said.

“I would say this lead-up has been the hardest thing that I’ve experienced so far, so I’m happy I can make the team [for the Singapore world titles] this year.

“I don’t think there’s been anything as hard as this, coming here and trying to race and trying to defend my Olympic, I guess, status in a way.”

Moved by O’Callaghan’s outpouring of emotion, Campbell offered some heartfelt words.

“Mollie, I think that I can speak for every single person in the stands, at home and around the world to say that you absolutely do us proud every time you hit the pool,” Campbell said.

“Your guts, your determination, the way you race, the way you carry yourself, you do Australia proud, and you should be so incredibly proud.”

Campbell’s kind remarks prompted a spirited round of applause from those in the stands.

Pallister joined in, and then resumed giving her friend a comforting rub on the back.

“And you get to go and represent Australia again,” Campbell continued, throwing forward to the Singapore world championships.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a bit rough,” O’Callaghan replied.

“But I’m very excited to do it alongside Lani. She raced amazing, [she swam] a big PB [personal best], so I’m really proud of her, and what everyone accomplished in this final tonight.”

Pallister, 23, has become clubmates with O’Callaghan since the Paris Games, switching from the Griffith University squad on the Gold Coast to the St Peters Western stable headed up by decorated coach Dean Boxall in Brisbane.

“To be day in, day out with Mollie, some of the sets she does [in training] just are absolutely unbelievable,” Pallister told Campbell.

“Mollie’s such a tough critic on herself, but I texted her this morning and told her that I draw inspiration from her.”

O’Callaghan’s use of the word “status” was telling. For 10 months now she’s been an individual Olympic gold medallist, and facing the pressure created by that tag has taken its toll.

She was an individual world champion before she was an individual Olympic champion, and she indicated repeatedly in honest interviews prior to the Paris Games that she was struggling with her success then.

A couple of minutes after speaking with Campbell on the Nine broadcast, O’Callaghan offered a more gentle assessment of her swim in a chat with journalists.

“I’m trying to think not too hard about the time,” said O’Callaghan, who’s 200m freestyle personal best is 1:52.48 — almost two seconds quicker than Wednesday night’s time.

“I think after the lead-up I’ve had over the past few months, to come back off a big break and injury and other little bits and bobs and personal stuff, I think I’m pretty proud of myself to show up behind the blocks and do that 200m.”

O’Callaghan dislocated her left knee in January.

In April at the national championships, held in Brisbane, the young champion admitted she felt like she was “kicking with one leg” and swimming “in circles”.

“I was quite emotional [in the interview with Campbell],” O’Callaghan said to journalists on Wednesday night.

“I think I’ve had a lot of pressure on myself to get to this point and to try to make the team [for the world championships], especially in my pet event, the 200m freestyle.

“Externally, a lot of people expect a lot out of me, but they don’t really see the work that goes behind it or what I’ve been through.

“I think I was a bit off today. You get a bit anxious, like everyone does, and I think I was just overthinking it.

“It’s nice to have Lani there to support me when I’m sobbing in front of everyone,” she added with a laugh, her facing lighting up.

“She’s a very comforting person.”

All eight women in the 200m freestyle final bettered Swimming Australia’s world championship time standard, ducking under 1:58.23. All eight of them also dipped under the mark in Wednesday morning’s heats. The swift times bode well for Australia’s world championship prospects in the women’s 4x200m relay.

Australian superstar Ariarne Titmus is the world record holder in the 200m freestyle but is taking a 12-month break from the pool following the Paris Olympics.

She’s providing expert commentary on Nine’s coverage of the trials this week.