O'Callaghan gifts gold to 'best friend' after victory

Mollie O'Callaghan places her gold medal around Jamie Perkins' neck.

Australia's selection process for its finals-bound relay teams can be brutal.

On Thursday night, Australia's 4x200m freestyle relay team of Lani Pallister, Jamie Perkins, Brianna Throssell and Shayna Jack executed a perfect heat swim to qualify first for the final with a time of 7.45.63.

But with gold medallists Mollie O'Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus already named to feature in Friday morning's final, only two heat swimmers would retain their spot.

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Adopting the same strategy as previous selections, Jack and Perkins, who recorded the slowest individual times in the heat, were swapped out for the final which Australia subsequently won in Olympic record time.

After receiving their medals and returning to the pool deck to celebrate with their support network, O'Callaghan placed her medal around Perkins' neck before the pair shared a tender embrace.

The almost inconspicuous moment was labelled "touching scenes" by Nine's poolside commentator Ellie Cole.

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Speaking afterwards, O'Callaghan described what her teammates mean to her — paying tribute to her friendship with Perkins.

"[This team] means the world to me," she told Nine.

"The opportunity to swim alongside the girls and have two [other] girls who swam the heats means the world to me.

"I've dreamed of this moment ever since Tokyo, striving to get on this team and doing whatever I can, and to have these girls by me and have their support means the world — I've said that a lot.

"Jamie is my best friend at training. She's there for me. She's been my roommate this whole meet. She has trained her arse off to get here. She's gone through a back injury, [and] done everything possible.

"I think that gold medal means a lot for me to give to her because it represents what she's been through and she's well deserving of it and they make up the team. If I count, it's all six of us."

Cole added: "I'm sure that moment meant the world to Jamie as well, Mollie".

Swimming the second leg of the heat, Perkins' time of 1:56.78 was the third fastest — 0.96 slower than Throssell who nabbed the final spot.

Perkins also contested the women's 400m freestyle earlier in the program, finishing eighth.

The result in the 4x200m freestyle relay marked O'Callaghan's third gold medal of Paris 2024, having already claimed gold in the individual women's 200m freestyle and women's 4x100m freestyle relay.

At the Olympic Games, relay heat swimmers are subsequently awarded a medal if their team prevails in the final, though they are not permitted to join the medal ceremony or stand on the podium with the final team.