‘Nervous wreck’ O’Callaghan takes down teammate Titmus

MOLLIE O’Callaghan (pic) was crippled by nerves, unable to sleep and overthinking her 200m freestyle battle with Australian teammate Ariarne Titmus, but the redheaded Queenslander turned cold-blooded predator when it counted in the Paris pool.

O’Callaghan won her first individual Olympic gold medal on Monday in a showdown with the defending champion and one of the nation’s great swimmers, who only weeks before had broken her world record at Australia’s trials in a psychological blow.