Emily’s heartache Mitch’s affair with swimmer EXPOSED!

All hell’s broken loose after the world swimming champ discovered a string of texts between her boyfriend and another swimmer

Battlelines are being drawn and sides are being taken after the shock separation of Australian swimming’s golden couple.

Sensing all wasn’t right in her relationship, a suspicious Emily Seebohm went looking for evidence and discovered a series of text messages between her

boyfriend, Olympic swim star Mitch Larkin, and fellow swimmer Abbey Harkin, according to insiders. In the face of her heartbreak and rage, Mitch, 25, apologised and moved out straight away, but Emily felt it was too much of a slap in the face to forgive and forget, instead taking to social media to announce their split and delete a series of photos of them together. Multiple sources tell Woman’s Day Emily, who bought a home with Mitch and had been telling friends a proposal was imminent, received a tip-off about her boyfriend’s inappropriate behaviour with another swimmer, before later discovering who she was. Our source says Emily, 26, discovered Mitch’s betrayal around the time of the recent Pan Pacific Championship trials in Adelaide, but things came to a head last week when she finally called it a day.

And while she has so far resisted targeting or publicly naming the other person in the split, it’s believed she’s secretly raging about Mitch’s betrayal with Abbey, 20, who was runner-up to three-time Olympian and multiple Australian record holder Emily at the Victorian Open Championships.

Emily is even vowing she will not hold back when she and Abbey run into each other in medley or breaststroke events, as they have done in the past.

Meanwhile, another source tells Woman’s Day Mitch – who is known in swim circles for his wandering eye, which former girlfriend and fellow swimmer Meagen Nay appeared to confirm in a telling social media post – was getting itchy feet long before he met Abbey.

“Secretly most of us in the swimming fraternity are happy this has happened now – that Mitch saw the light,” says the insider. “He was a fool to play up on her if he did – there’s no excuse for that.

“But they were never a great fit despite them trying to portray themselves as the perfect couple.”

According to sources within the swimming community, Mitch got cold feet when his relationship with Emily began

‘Secretly most of us are happy this has happened now’

moving quickly, and he felt intense pressure to get engaged and start a family.

“Buying the house was a silly idea. It all happened very quickly, and again the pressure was enormous,” tells our source.

POWER COUPLE

Mitch is also said to have disliked Emily’s love of the limelight and her keenness to develop “their brand” as a couple.

“Mitch felt pressure to be seen at just about every opening she could attend,” says our source. “I think Mitch saw this young, sweet-natured girl Abbey, and I think he realised Emily and her love of fame wasn’t really his cup of tea.

“Em is a great girl but it’s going to take a special sort of a bloke to be able to keep her in the style she has become accustomed to. Maybe this has taught Mitch that next time round he might want to try and play the faithful card – this is a horrible mess that could have been avoided.

“And if Mitch actually really cares for Abbey, which I suspect he does, then he should do the right thing by her. She’s a good kid and doesn’t deserve to be thrown into this mess.”