Australian Olympic champion swimmer Mollie O'Callaghan revealed on Wednesday that she was instructed to stop swimming immediately last month due to stress fractures in her spine, but was allowed to participate in next week's Commonwealth Games. O'Callaghan, the 200m freestyle champion at the Paris 2024 Olympics, spoke about her struggles ahead of the Olympic Games starting July 23 in Glasgow and the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in California next August. The 22-year-old swimmer wrote on her Instagram account: 'I was told last month that I would not be able to compete in the local trials, the Commonwealth Games, or the Pan Pacific Championships, and was asked to stop swimming immediately.' The winner of five Olympic golds and 11 world championship golds added, 'It was a moment that confirmed to me how much representing Australia means to me, and how desperately I wanted to be part of this team.' Mollie explained that tests showed stress fractures and bone edema in the vertebrae of her lower back, and that her team consulted a spinal specialist.