Peaty seeks historic third Olympic gold
Adam Peaty is looking relaxed ahead of tonight’s 100m breaststroke final where he goes in search of a historic third Olympic gold medal in this event.
Peaty’s decorated career has been a joy to watch but it has not been without its struggles for the 29-year-old who is now competing in his third Olympics.
Peaty burst onto the scene at the 2014 Commonwealth Games setting a new Commonwealth Games record in his heat of the 50m breaststroke and the heats of the 100m breaststroke as well.
He went on to win silver and gold respectively and helped his team to the gold in the 4 x 100m medley relay.
Just a month later, he set his first world record in the European Championships. The then 19-year-old had taken the swimming world by storm and was establishing himself as a household name.
Peaty’s upward trajectory continued as more records tumbled as he got quicker and quicker, the pinnacle of his career thus far was the Rio 2016 Olympics.
After retaining his 50m breaststroke and 100m breaststroke titles in the European’s in May, winning a total of four gold medals, he headed to Brazil in top form as he made his Olympic debut.
The 100m breaststroke event was his only individual event since the 50m is not an Olympic discipline. In the heats he broke his own world record, then went on to shatter this new world record in the final as he collected the gold. It was Team GB’s first gold medal of the games.
The years in between the Rio and Tokyo Olympics were far from quiet for Peaty, winning five world championship golds, eight European championship golds and a Commonwealth gold.
In Tokyo, Peaty became the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title as he picked up gold again in the 100m breaststroke.
However, a year later at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, after recovering from a fractured foot, Adam Peaty cut a frustrated figure.
His interviews were littered with expletives and the headlines became critical of Britain’s national treasure as he finished fourth in the 100m breaststroke.
He said, he had ‘lost that spark’.
His eight-year unbeaten streak in the pool had come to an end, as had his relationship with Eirianedd Munro – the mother of his child.
Behind the scenes, Peaty was battling depression and turning more and more to alcohol as a means of coping.
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He told the Mail: “I kind of, not went off the rails, but I didn’t really have that overwhelming motivation to perform at something. And I am a performer, so if I don’t have something to perform at, I completely lose my track.
“It took a long while to recognise what was important to me and what wasn’t. I have found that thankfully now. I know exactly how to treat my body, how to treat my mind, and it’s not by forcing alcohol as much as you can.”
He told The Times: “It’s been an incredibly lonely journey. The devil on my shoulder [says], ‘You’re missing out on life. You’re not good enough. You need a drink. You can’t have what you want. You can’t be happy.’
“I’ve been on a self-destructive spiral, which I don’t mind saying because I’m human. By saying it, I can start to find the answers.”
Last year, Adam Peaty found love again as he began dating Holly Ramsay, daughter of famous TV chef Gordon Ramsay.
At the same time, he found religion and fell back in love with the sport he once dominated after previously saying he never wanted to see a pool again.
As he competed in the heats and semi-final of the 100m breaststroke, to qualify for tonight’s final, Peaty looked relaxed.
Each time he exited the pool, he did so with a smile as he qualified fastest. He spoke of his son, George who is watching from the stands who simply wants to know: “Daddy, are you the fastest boy?”
Tonight, we find out. Adam Peaty looks to defend his Olympic title at 8.44pm.
