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Adam Peaty enters his third Olympics bidding to do match the achievements of Michael Phelps as the only male swimmer to win three successive gold medals in the same event.
The mere fact that Peaty is in contention to match one of the achievements of perhaps the greatest Olympian of all time shows both his exceptional ability and remarkable longevity, both of which have contributed to him becoming recognised as the greatest men’s breaststroke swimmer in history.
The 29-year-old already has three Olympic gold medals, winning the 100m breaststroke for the first time in Rio in 2016 and then defending his title before adding the 4x100m mixed medley in Tokyo five years later.
Numerous world records and world titles followed, but a split from his former partner Eiri Munro, a broken foot and a self-described breakdown threatened to end Peaty’s time in the pool.
Nevertheless, the four-time Olympic medal winner approaches Paris 2024 with a new outlook on life both in and out of the water, and it could be key to helping him enter the pantheon of Olympic greats.
Born in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, in 1994, Peaty first got into swimming when he joined his local swimming club, and the story goes that he began to take swimming seriously at age 17 after seeing contemporary Craig Benson qualify for the Olympic semi-finals at London 2012.
And it wasn’t long before he emerged as a star. In 2014, Peaty won three medals – including gold in the 100m breaststroke – at the Commonwealth Games, and then he shattered the 50m breaststroke world record at the European Championships.
He followed up with gold in the 50m and 100m breaststroke events at the World Championships in 2015, and entered Rio 2016 in perfect form, delivering on his promise to win gold in the 100m breaststroke.
A period of complete domination followed his first Olympics. As well as defending his world titles in 2017 and 2019, he became the first man to swim under 57 seconds in the 100m breaststroke, and he became the first British swimmer to successfully defend an Olympic title when he won gold at Tokyo 2020.
But a broken foot and a rushed return to the Commonwealth Games in 2022 led to a turn of events that caused Peaty to take a break from the sport in 2023, citing mental health reasons. The five-time Olympic medal winner admitted that he had been close to retirement at one point, having had a breakdown in the pool and turning to alcohol on occasion.
But a mixture of faith and therapy has helped Peaty return to the pool and contributed to him coming back as “the happiest I’ve ever been, and the most calculated and balanced too”.
He faces a tough challenge to defend his medal, in the form of China’s Qin Haiyang, who won all three breaststroke events at last year’s World Championships. His 100m-winning time of 57.69s is the second fastest in history.
But Peaty is ready to “accept the challenge”, partly in the knowledge that his own best (and world record) time is 0.81s quicker than Qin’s, and partly because the pool is his “arena”.
“The closer I get to it, I’ve got to become a god,” Peaty told The Independent in October 2023 – he may yet become an Olympic immortal if he can battle to a third gold in Paris.
