Aus swim coach Boxall sorry for over-the-top celebration

Dean Boxall

An Australian swimming coach whose wild victory celebrations at the Tokyo Olympics went viral online has apologised for tearing off his mask in defiance of strict COVID-19 rules.

Coach Dean Boxall flipped out after his swimmer Ariarne Titmus clinched gold in the 400m freestyle ahead of fierce American rival Katie Ledecky on Monday.

Roaring with delight, the shaggy-haired swim guru kicked the air and hammered his fists, before thrusting his hips against a perspex barrier. He also tore off his face covering and threw it across the spectator-free stands.

He admitted he went too far breaching the Covid-19 protocols. "I need to apologise, actually, because I tore my mask off and it ripped," he told Australia's Seven Network. "I just lost it in the moment."

Boxall said he lost control after working with Titmus for six years and seeing her execute to perfection a plan to overcome US great Ledecky. "It just came out," he said. "It built up in the trials, it was coming through and then when I saw the race unfolding I couldn't keep it in." Boxall told Australian media: "I think I went outside of my body."

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