Paris Olympics: American commentators notice a puzzling detail about Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O'Callaghan's reaction to their race for gold

US commentators have noted the unusual mild celebrations of Aussie coach Dean Boxall when Mollie O'Callaghan won gold at the Paris Olympics, compared to his ballistic reaction for Titmus. 

O'Callaghan claimed her first individual Olympic gold medal in the 200m freestyle final in the hugely anticipated showdown against Aussie friend and rival Ariarne Titmus.

It marked the first time since Ian Thorpe's victory over Grant Hackett in the men's 400m freestyle at the 2004 Athens Games that Australia has claimed a 1-2 finish in an Olympic swimming final.

O'Callaghan reversed the outcome from the Australian selection trials, where Titmus narrowly defeated her training partner with a world-record time.

Both swimmers are coached by Dean Boxall in Brisbane and his reaction to O'Callaghan claiming the win over star pupil Titmus raised the eyebrows of NBC commentator Dan Hicks.

'If you're Dean Boxall, what do you do? Well, yeah, I got two of them,' he said after the race.

'We've seen him go crazy when Titmus wins for whatever reason he doesn't go quite as wild when O'Callaghan wins,

'But as expected, the Aussies go one and two and they get to celebrate medals showing some sportsmanship afterwards as O'Callaghan gets the better of Titmus on this night.'

It was a far cry from the Tokyo Olympics where Boxall almost stole Titmus' thunder after she stormed home to win Olympic gold in the 400m freestyle. 

Moments after Titmus handed her US rival Katie Ledecky her first Olympic final loss, cameras captured her Boxall's exuberant reaction.

Wearing his trademark bright yellow Australia shirt, Boxall tore off his face mask and began bouncing around his box while a staff member attempted to contain his celebration.

'I mean he is going crazy. Oh my goodness. He's like putting on a show like Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones or something,' the commentator said at the time.

Boxall captured the hearts of Aussies as he punched the air in excitement and shook the glass barrier, later becoming overcome with emotion and wiping away tears while Titmus took to the podium to accept her medal.

And some fans were quick to notice Boxall's more subdued reaction to his pupil O'Callaghan beating Titmus. 

'Dean Boxall must be very proud right now. where are those wild reactions, bro? give us the #Paris2024 edition, please,' one tweeted.

'The Australian coach Dean Boxall coaches both O'Callaghan & Titmus who just won gold and silver respectively. And he is totally giving Spicoli vibes. IYKYK,' added another, comparing Boxall's calmer state to Sean Penn's surfer character Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Australian swimming great Giaan Rooney believes she knows the reason why Boxall toned down his celebrations and it has nothing to do with favouring one of his students over the other.

'Coach Dean, he's almost got to find a way to celebrate quietly when he's got both his charges in this 200m freestyle,' Rooney said on the Nine broadcast.

'He can't seem too excited for Mollie, he can't seem too upset for Arnie.'

Speaking from Paris this week, Titmus revealed that while Boxall coaches them both, they are rarely in the pool together at the same time.

'To be honest, we don't train together. She does a very different program to me. She does the sprint program,' Titmus said.

'I do the distance program, so we hardly ever cross paths,' Titmus said at the Australian team's training base in Chartres, south west of Paris.

'It's just as if I was racing anyone else on the team really, so I think that's good. Dean does a really good job of managing that.

'I don't look at any of my competitors as competitors outside of the water. I try to look at them as the person they are and that makes it easy to really keep things civil.'

And O'Callaghan said it was more important they worked on their friendship and comradery than a rivalry.

'The key part is balance,' O'Callaghan said. 

'From time to time we'll race each other, and from time to time we won't. The main part is having that healthy relationship with the girls.

'We are competitors at the end of the day, but also having that friendship outside of the water.