The Dean of Aussie Swimming: Dean Boxall Named Swimming World International Coach of the Year
Australian Dean Boxall has been named Swimming World’s International Coach of the Year. This feature, by Ian Hanson, appears in the December digital issue of Swimming World.
It was late evening, July 27, on Day 5 of the World Championships in Fukuoka, and it was a wrap on another world record-breaking night that had the crowd on its feet.
It was a night that had seen Australia continue its memorable gold-medal assault in the pool—an assault not seen by the Aussies since 2001, the last time the world came to Fukuoka, the prefecture’s capital on the northern shore of Japan’s Kyushu Island. It was also the year that saw Australia, highlighted by the legendary Ian Thorpe’s six-gold medal haul, conquer the USA for the first time.
On this night, history was repeating itself with another golden era in Australian swimming beginning to emerge.
The Japanese fans had long since exited the building, giving way to the custodians cleaning the aisles inside the natatorium, making ready for the next day’s session. In the pool, there were still those last few swimmers rolling their arms over in their final strokes of yet another warm-down.
But in the front row of the grandstand sat a lonely figure.
It was a rare quiet moment for the now famous Energizer Bunny, the mad-cap Aussie swim coach, Dean Boxall, whose celebration—you might recall—went “viral” after his swimmer, Ariarne Titmus, won gold in the women’s 400 free at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
A NIGHT LIKE NO OTHER
Boxall sat proudly by himself, reflecting on a night that saw rare gold to Australia in the women’s 4×200 meter freestyle relay—with all four girls from Boxall’s squad at St Peters Western, one of Australia’s leading swim clubs nestled in a sleepy suburb of Brisbane called Indooroopilly, an Aboriginal name that means “gully of running waters.”
Before Night 5, two of his St Peters all-stars had already pocketed gold in world-beating fashion: the women’s 200 freestyle to rising teenager Mollie O’Callaghan and the long-awaited opening night 400 freestyle showdown—dubbed the “Race of the Century”—won by the leader of the pack, his Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus. And both girls stopped the clock in world-record times!
Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr
As if that weren’t enough…along comes Night 5, and O’Callaghan and Titmus step up alongside club mates Shayna Jack and Brianna Throssell in one memorable moment in time—when for the first time, four girls from the same club, representing Australia, combined to create their own slice of swimming history and swim a time faster than any other team had ever swum…another WR to Team Boxall!
As the man with the golden locks and the Midas touch reflected in the grandstand that night, he looked over to see his girls, dripping in gold, signing autographs, preparing to tell their story to the assembled media.
Speaking exclusively to Swimming World, he was asked about his team’s performances in Fukuoka. He paused before acknowledging there had been some magnificent individual performances: “Knowing that the Olympic year is the most important, for what they (his team) did in 2023 was incredible—St Peters getting 10 swimmers on the Australian team was a record…and the 10 who went to Fukuoka all came away with a medal, which was also incredible,” said Boxall.
“And then there was ‘that relay’—those four St Peters girls, standing up and achieving something that had never been done before!
“Four girls from one club, winning and breaking the world record—Wow! There was a moment of relief and happiness: After the girls won, they held their heads high, but at the same time they were humble as well.
“I was watching them, and I knew this was a great moment, but all along I was always thinking of Paris because of what happened in Tokyo (when Australia was favored to win, only to be beaten by China, whose world record set in 2021 was broken by Australia in Fukuoka).
“As I sat alone in the grandstand, it was a special, reflective moment for me.
“They were swimming for one another, they were training partners all from the same club, who all knew each other, and they were going to fight for one another, for the greater good of themselves and swimming for their country.
“We always hear a lot about Team USA, but this was a moment for Team Australia—my four girls who knew that this night was for the Green and Gold.
“They felt it, and I knew that they felt it—that’s why it was powerful…they were never going to let each other down…they all knew that.
BOXALL’S BUNCH
The “Other” Relays
“And then I was particularly happy with the other relays, too—my boys, Kai Taylor and Jack Cartwright, in the gold medal-winning 4×100 freestyle alongside Flynn Southam and Kyle Chalmers, a relay we had not won for a while.
“Then three from St Peters in the mixed freestyle relay—Jack Cartwright, Shayna Jack and Mollie O’Callaghan—all this in the year before the Olympics. I’m really proud of the way they have set themselves up (for the Olympics in Paris), and they know what they have to do next year.
“Jack has had unbelievable injuries. People would not realize the resilience of this guy—just pushing it and holding it. He went PBs…he had not done a PB in six years…and he did it with the Australian swim team, leading off the 4×100 freestyle relay in 47.84…and he’s back doing a great job. Then there’s Kai Taylor. I absolutely love Kai—what a warrior, what a work ethic! He is on the up.”
Arnie
With regard to the women’s 400-meter shootout and the intense buildup to this race, Boxall admitted that Titmus had not been in the best form during the year.
“She didn’t need to be unbelievable…she just needed to be Arnie…with that great work ethic…and she actually came into her own with five weeks to go,” said Boxall.
“Arnie said, ‘Let’s put the afterburners on and really go here.’ She was nervous going into that race (against Katie Ledecky, Summer McIntosh and Erika Fairweather), but she loves the nerves—she uses it.
“She can feel it. Other people are like deer in the headlights, but Arnie uses it as a place of just happiness. She was ready to go.
“I knew she had the capacity to go that fast, but to be truthful, I didn’t think she would go that low into 3:55…but she’s Arnie!”
“Moldog”
And now, there’s Mollie, who Boxall affectionately calls the “Moldog”—an “assassin in the water.”
But when she injured her knee stretching on the pool deck at St Peters in the lead-up to the World Championships, the preparation was thrown into disarray.
“Just when you think things are going well, you just get struck by a bolt of lightning, just to remind you never to get complacent,” said Boxall.
“I am super proud of her: the way she came back to win that 100 again and the 200 in a world record—just phenomenal, just phenomenal!
“I have had her since she was 15 as well, and (I love) watching the way she has grown.
“She was as green as green can be going to the Olympics in Tokyo—loving that environment and being there for relays. You cannot ask for a better introduction really than going to the Olympics for relays.
“Learning what this is all about and then qualifying as an individual athlete at the World Championships and winning and understanding what it’s about.
“(Then) going to the Commonwealth Games four weeks later and performing unbelievably there, and you are just starting to grow and to believe in yourself more and understanding yourself as an athlete and knowing what your capabilities are. We still don’t know what this girl’s capabilities are.”
Shayna
And then there’s Shayna Jack:
“What a story, eh, especially after breaking her wrist and coming in and Mollie was world No. 1…and then Shayna had the world No. 2 time with her relay leadoff. But now (Hong Kong’s) Siobhan Haughey is No. 1, Mollie 2 and Shayna 3…,” said Boxall.
“To see Shayna standing up for Australia is unbelievable—just un-bel-ievable!
“And looking good in the 50 with her 24.00 at the back end of the meet…. Shayna, I believe a few years ago, would not have been able to hold that sort of program. She had swum multiple 100s…and then the 200 freestyle…and then the individual 50…to hold her composure.
“Her speed for that week without having been compromised was just all class and sheer determination.
“She loves that environment…she loves it, mate! She loves the big stage—that’s what makes her unbelievable. She has had so much thrown at her over the course of the last four years…and she is just getting better…we have not seen the best of Shayna….”
Bri
…Nor have we seen the best of Bri Throssell, who has been on the Australian team since 2012, when she made her debut on the World Short Course team that competed in Istanbul.
She was a semifinalist in the 50 butterfly and just missed the semis in the 100 fly, finishing 17th. But she took home a silver medal in the 4×100 medley as a heat swimmer, helping to qualify the team into eighth place, then finishing second in the final.
“Bri Throssell is the unsung hero (of this group and on the Australian team). Bri is just there, and she has always been there—for 11 years—and now she has come into a program that works really hard.
“And before the 4×200 in Fukuoka, she said to me, ‘I’ve never been more nervous in my life’—and that was because of the conversation (we had)…because conversations change mindsets. She is 27 years old, and she keeps trying to push and find a way to get better.”
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Overall, Boxall does admit 2023 has been a great year…but…?
“I am trying to explain to the guys when you swim well and have a great year, it (can be) a trap as well,” said the “Pied Piper” of St Peters.
“You just can’t get complacent. They know it’s the Olympic year next year. 2023 has been a year of generating confidence, and you just can’t buy confidence—you have to earn it…and they have earned it in 2023.
“But they have got to use (that confidence) in ’24.” Boxall acknowledged, “It’s been a good year, but I can’t jump up and down about it…because ’24 is the ultimate!”