Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus has announced her retirement from elite swimming in a social media post that took Australian sports fans by surprise.

The 25-year-old Titmus, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, had been widely expected to return to competitive swimming following a break in the wake of the Paris Games and train for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 .

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“I’ve always loved swimming, it’s been my passion since I was a little girl, but I guess I’ve taken this time away from the sport and realized some things in my life that have always been important to me are just a little bit more important to me now than swimming,” Titmus said in a video posted Thursday on Instagram. “And that’s OK.”

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