Mollie O'CALLAGHAN

Australia

Swimming

Olympic Medals

Games Participations2

First Olympic GamesTokyo 2020

Year of Birth2004

Social Media

Biography

Mollie O’Callaghan, with multiple gold medals at the Olympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games, has become one of the most successful Australian swimmers at a very young age.

Mollie won the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the women’s 200m freestyle with an Olympic record. She is also one of Australia’s most decorated Olympians with eight medals.

Five of Mollie’s eight Olympic medals were won at Paris 2024 when she was 20. In addition to ending Ariarne Titmus’s title run in the 200m freestyle, she was part of the Australian swimming teams that secured gold in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle races, silver in the 4x100m medley and bronze in the 4x100m mixed medley.

At Tokyo 2020, when Mollie was just 17 she claimed gold medals in the 4x100m freestyle, 4x100m medley and bronze medal in the 4x200m freestyle.

Born on April 2, 2004, in Brisbane, Mollie O’Callaghan started swimming when she was four and began competing just three years later.

At 15, she was selected as part of Australia’s World Junior Championships team in Budapest where she won silver as a member of the 4x100m freestyle relay team.

After an impressive performance at Australia’s Olympic selection trials in 2021, Mollie was named the youngest member of Australia’s team for Tokyo 2020 where she picked up medals for swimming in the heats.

At the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, Mollie won three golds and as many silvers. She won individual gold and silver in the 100m and 200m freestyle events, respectively. She was also part of the gold medal-winning 4x100m freestyle, mixed freestyle and silver medal-winning 4x200m freestyle and 4x100m medley teams.

At the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, Mollie produced one of the best performances by any athlete across sports, winning seven medals, including five gold and two silvers.

Mollie became the fifth Australian to win the world and Commonwealth 100m freestyle double - joining Jodie Henry, Libby Trickett and the Campbell sisters Cate and Bronte. Mollie also pocketed individual silvers in the 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke events.

At the 2022 Short Course World Championships, Mollie contributed to world records in the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relays. Individually, she earned silver in the 100m and bronze in the 50m backstroke events.

Mollie was named Swimming World’s Female Performer of the Year in 2022.

The Australian swimmer came into the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka on the back of suffering a knee injury. However, Mollie contributed to Australia’s six medal wins from a total of 25. Five of Mollie’s six medals in Japan were gold medals. She was involved in four world records.

Mollie won gold in the 100m freestyle with a victory over the legendary Emma McKeon. That came two nights after getting the better of Ariarne Titmus in the 200m freestyle with a world record. The two wins made her the first woman ever to become a 100m and 200m freestyle world champion at the same time.

Mollie O’Callaghan won the 200m freestyle gold at the 2023 World Championships in 1:52.85, breaking the 14-year-old world record set by Italy’s Federica Pellegrini by 0.13 seconds.

Mollie also claimed gold in the 4x100m freestyle and led Australia’s challenge in the 4x200m freestyle relay. She also clinched gold in the mixed 4x100m relay and silver in the women’s 4x100m medley.

After securing her place in the Paris 2024 squad through the Olympic Trials in Brisbane, Mollie O’Callaghan emerged as one of the standout performers at the Summer Games.

At Paris 2024, Mollie O’Callaghan bagged her first individual Olympic gold medal with a win over Ariarne Titmus at the Paris La Défense Arena. Ariarne was the Olympic champion and world record holder coming into the race while Mollie was the 2023 world champion and a former world record holder. Mollie won the gold with a brilliant final lap that saw her clock a new Olympic record of 1:53.27.

Their rivalry had already produced fireworks at the Australian Olympic trials where Titmus broke Mollie’s world record.