TOKYO — For the usher at the Tokyo Aquatics Center who found herself trying to contain coach Dean Boxall Monday morning, Swimming Australia has a message: Sorry about that.
“I’d like to give her a T-shirt,” says media director Kate Hutchison.
Perhaps paying for some counseling would be nice, too. The orderly, rules-obsessed folks working at the venues during these Olympics ran up against the world’s wildest swim coach at just the right/wrong time, depending on your viewpoint. Boxall’s star swimmer, Ariarne Titmus, had just defeated Olympic freestyle queen Katie Ledecky for a gold medal in the best 400-meter freestyle in history, and what happened next went viral very quickly:
The 43-year-old Boxall, who exudes a Jeff Spicoli-meets-Matthew McConaughey-meets-unhinged-nose-tackle vibe, “lost it,” in his own words.