Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus has won two Olympic gold medals at the
Tokyo Olympics 2020 — in the 200m and 400m freestyle. Quite understandably, her
social media feed is flooded with congratulatory messages from family, friends,
national leaders and dignitaries.

However, the 20-year-old athlete has deleted all social media apps from her
phone. “I think as much as messages from everyone is really beautiful, and it’s
good to look at it a little bit, it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming,”
Titmus said after her victory against American Katie Ledecky in the women’s
200m freestyle final on Wednesday.

Titmus said that she speaks only to her family and even that only a tiny
bit as she tries to keep away from anything that adds external pressure on her.

But the youngster does take an occasional peek into the goings on with the
help of her best friend. “I got my best friend last night to log into my
Instagram to post a post for me,” Titmus told CNN Sports.

“So I didn’t even log on and post but she said, like, ‘Mate, your
notifications are out of control,’” the 20-year-old athlete added.

Ariarne knows that getting back on social media will be a bit hectic, but
she thinks that it is good to be “able to be off when you’re racing”. “It’s
just another thing that you don’t have to worry about,” she says.

Meanwhile, for Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten going off social media
was a choice she made to preserve her mental state after she lost out a gold
medal in the women’s road race on Sunday.

Her loss was especially poignant as when she crossed the 147-kilometre
course she threw her arms up in the air in celebration thinking she had won
gold. Little did she realise that Austria’s Anna Kiesenhofer had crossed the finish
line well ahead of her competitors to take gold.

In an effort to cope with the backlash, van Vleuten decided to close
herself off from social media and focus completely on her preparation.

Her decision paid off and she won gold at the individual trial time on
Wednesday.