Boxall has coached Titmus for six years after her family moved from Tasmania to Brisbane to further her swim career under his tuition at Brisbane’s St Peters school.
He is well known for his passion and it all burst out at the end of the race as he grabbed a rail and screamed, in the same style as the Ultimate Warrior grabbing ring ropes.
“He was my favourite,” Boxall told Channel 7. “My brother was, I can’t remember, but I was the Ultimate Warrior when we used to wrestle at home when I was about 10. I loved him, loved the Ultimate Warrior.”
Boxall said his reaction “just came out. I built it up in trials it was coming through and when I saw the race unfolding I couldn’t keep it in.
Yeh the appreciation for Dean Boxall's celebration has gone to a whole new level now that he says he was mimicking the Ultimate Warrior. ???? #tokyo2020pic.twitter.com/ezbns2yXM2
“I need to apologise because I took my mask off by mistake and it ripped. I lost it in the moment.”
He said Titmus had stuck to their pre-race plan to win a first Olympic final.
“We had a race plan and the funny thing is, in this situation and under that pressure, Arnie executed it to perfection. When I saw it started to build I thought here we go, I thought she can do this. It’s unbelievable to execute that under pressure.”
Boxall’s reaction was nothing new, according to NZ swimmer Eve Thomas, who trains with Boxall and Titmus at St Peters.
She told stuff.nz he went “absolutely wild” when she qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the 1500m freestyle.
“My coach was absolutely wild,” Thomas said. “He’s one of Australia’s top coaches and he’s just known for being absolutely insane.
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“He’s so loud, a massive personality, exceptionally passionate, and he carried me through that 1500m.
“All 30 laps he was there with me, feeling every bit of pain that I was feeling.”
Titmus said she saw Boxall tearing up in the medal ceremony.
“He means everything to me,” she said.
“It was actually hard to contain it. I could see Dean on the other side bawling his eyes out. “You don’t see that that often so that made me want to tear up.”
Dean Boxall is all of us in Sydney when we eventually get out of lockdown!!
Spare a thought for the Japanese official in the background who’s read a 400-page Covid compliance manual that contained precisely no detail of how to deal with this pic.twitter.com/2caZBscuzL