Swimming golden girls Emma McKeon and Ariarne Titmus spill their secrets to success

Swimming golden girls Emma McKeon and Ariarne Titmus have shared the highs and lows of being an elite athlete.

The country’s gold medal winning Olympians addressed an audience of about 4000 at a real estate conference on the Gold Coast, and shared how they stay motivated while giving insights into handling high-pressure situations.

McKeon, who won a record 14 Olympic medals as well as five world championships, told the crowd at the two-day Australian Real Estate Conference (AREC) she didn’t rely on daily motivation to get her to training sessions throughout her swim career.

“Motivation is a feeling and it’s almost like an emotion, some days you’re happy and some days you’re not feeling it,” McKeon said.

“If I relied on feeling motivated I would not be remotely close to where I am today.

“I was always motivated for my goal and wanted it so badly that that’s what got me out of bed. “(It’s) knowing every decision you make is for your goal.”

In an onstage interview with News Corp Australia’s Queensland Real Estate Editor Elizabeth Tilley, McKeon said goal setting was critical but stressed long-term goals needed to be broken down.

“With goal setting you do have to have the big image and for me it was to win Olympic gold,” McKeon said.

“You need to bring it back and set those daily, weekly and monthly goals to make it not so seem overwhelming.”

McKeon said she had an ability to “be present” while walking out to the blocks of big swimming races.

“Right before going out for a race or standing before the blocks would be my most present time in my whole life,” she said.

“That’s something I have worked on to get to that point.”

Titmus, a four-time Olympic gold medallist, shared how she hit peak performance in the pool.

“There’s a lot of people who are very good at things,” Titmus said.

“There’s also people who are champions in their field.

“The difference is a lot of people have goals in the forefront of their mind – you go to work, you go to training.

“But the champions of the world have an ability to have their goals follow them wherever they go and every decision they make is to help them achieve their goals.”

Titmus shared she felt pure happiness when she won gold in the 2021 Toyko Olympics and knew she had given it her all during training.

“Having the opportunity and blessing to be able to race for an Olympic gold medal doesn’t come along very often,” Titmus said.

“To let that chance slip when it’s at your fingertips, if you make the conscious decision not to turn over every stone and put in all the work to stand behind the block and be as absolutely prepared as you can possibly be then you have to live with that decision if it doesn’t go your way.

“I’ve always said to myself when I stand behind the block ‘if I were to get beaten today that’s okay as I’ve done everything I possibly can, they are just better than me today’.

“I’ve always prepared myself knowing that I’m the best of myself out there and hopefully that’s the best in the world.”

AREC attracted real estate agents from across the nation, with headliner former US Vice President Kamala Harris appearing live in her first speaking engagement in Australia.

She joined 32 speakers at the event, including Buying in Beverly Hills star Mauricio Umansky, entrepreneur Steven Bartlett and sports coach and mentor Tim Grover.

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