Tasmania's fastest young swimmers got an absolute treat on Saturday as they prepared to dive into the Age Sprint and Relay Championships.
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They could hardly contain their excitement as home-town hero Ariarne Titmus entered Launceston Leisure and Aquatic Centre.
When they got the chance they rushed up to the 200 and 400-metre freestyle Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer.
And she was more than happy to pose for photos and sign notepads or shirts.
It was a special day for Titmus with City of Launceston officially renaming the aquatic centre's 50m competition pool in her honour - now the Ariarne Titmus 50m Competition Pool.
"Whenever I come back to Tassie, especially since the Olympics, I've really felt a reception like no other," she said.
"The whole Tassie community gets behind me especially with Launceston being my home-town.
"I'm so proud to be from here and I never thought a day like this would ever happen."
The honour comes after Titmus received the Key to the City last year.
Deputy mayor Danny Gibson initiated a notice of motion both for the key presentation and pool renaming following Titmus' success at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 21-year-old's family and friends were at the ceremony and she gave them a shout out during her speech.
"I want to thank my family and friends who are all here today - having to move to Brisbane was a pretty tough decision but without your support I definitely wouldn't be the swimmer I am now," she said.
Titmus said she started training at Launceston Leisure and Aquatic Centre when she was 11.
She started with Riverside and then moved to Launceston Aquatic Club.
"My first session here was a Thursday afternoon, I had dancing after school and I came straight to the pool with my coach at the time Derek Taylor," she said.
"And I trained here until I left and moved to Brisbane.
"And pretty much this is the pool where I started to make a shift as a swimmer - I won my first national age title as a 13-year-old, training at this pool.
"This is really where my swimming career took off."
Titmus, who was born-and-bred in Launceston, moved with her family to Brisbane in 2015 when she was 14 to progress her swimming career.
Council is also set to launch the inaugural Ariarne Titmus Swimming Scholarship in coming weeks.
The idea is to provide Launceston junior swimmers with further opportunities to succeed just like Titmus.
"For me one of the most important parts of all this is the scholarship," Titmus said.
"I feel so grateful there's going to be an opportunity for a young swimmer like me to have some support."
She's looking forward to seeing who the recipient is because she believes it's going to make a huge difference in their swimming career.
Mayor Albert van Zetten is likewise excited about the scholarship.
"The purpose of the scholarship will be to help identify the next budding world champion in the pool from across our talented ranks of junior athletes from across the city and then give them some assistance where we can," he said.
Titmus also thanked artist Josh Foley who painted a mural of the swimmer which is on display by the 50m pool.
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