Adam Peaty is one of the most successful British athletes in history, having won five Olympic medals including three golds, dominating the men’s breaststoke discipline for almost a decade.
The 28-year-old has swum 14 world records and is the only person in history to have broken the 57-second barrier over 100m. He has won and defended European, Commonwealth and world titles, all while rewriting what is possible in the event.
But his utter dedication to the sport – waking at 6am to train and gym six days a week, adhering to a strict diet and lifestyle – has taken a mental toll, and the Olympic champion is taking time out to deal with new challenges.
Here we take a look at a timeline of his life and career:
28 December 1994
Adam Peaty is born in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. He takes his first swimming lesson aged four to overcome a fear of water.
2007
Peaty joins Derby Swimming Club where he first meets his future coach, Mel Marshall. She is not impressed with his freestyle but is amazed by his natural breaststroke ability.
31 July 2012
The 17-year-old Peaty is getting ready for a night out with friends when he sees teenage rival Craig Benson competing in the semi-finals at the London Olympics. It lights a fire and he commits to being in Rio de Janeiro in four years.
July 2014
Peaty enters his first major championship, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and makes a splash by beating the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder Cameron van der Burgh in the 100m final, setting a new British and Commonwealth Games record in the process. He wins European titles at 50m and 100m later that year, setting his first world record over the shorter distance.
April 2015
At the British Championships he obliterates the 100m world record by half a second, qualifying for the Rio Olympics – as he vowed he would four years earlier – in style.
August 2015
Peaty goes for his first global medal at the World Swimming Championships in Kazan, and claims gold in both the 50m and 100m finals, as well as the 4x100m mixed relay. Van der Burgh set a new 50m world record in the heats but Peaty lowers it in the semis before winning the final, cementing himself as the alpha of breaststroke sprinting 12 months out from the Olympic Games.
7 August 2016
Peaty arrives in Rio as one of Britain’s best medal hopes. After knocking almost half a second off his own 100m world record in the heats, he reaches the 100m final as favourite for gold, starting in lane four between Van der Burgh and the threatening American Cody Miller. The Briton dives ahead with his famously fast start and never looks back, setting yet another world record of 57.13 sec – more than a second quicker than the next best swimmer in history, Van der Burgh – to claim the ultimate prize: his first Olympic title.
2017-2020
Peaty continues his utter dominance of the sport, defending his world titles at the World Championships in Budapest and Gwangju, his Commonwealth title on Australia’s Gold Coast, his European crowns in Glasgow and Budapest, and heading to Tokyo 2020 as favourite for more glory. On 21 July 2019, at the World Championships, Peaty swims what remains the fastest 100m breaststroke in history, breaking the 57-second barrier with a time of 56.88 sec.
11 September 2020
Peaty and his girlfriend Eirianedd Munro have a baby son, George-Anderson.
26 July 2021
At the rearranged Tokyo Olympics, Peaty wins 100m gold again with another dominant display, though he falls just short of world-record pace. Victory in the mixed medley secures his third career gold at the Games, and fifth Olympic medal.
September 2021
After Tokyo, Peaty says he needs time out, telling The Independent: “I haven’t lost the 100m breaststroke in seven years – of course it’s going to be an unhealthy obsession with sport and with progression. There’s no way around that, I really don’t think there is.”
He takes part in BBC show Strictly Come Dancing and is forced to deny claims of an ‘almost kiss’ with dance partner Katya Jones. “I was playing a character and I’m not going to do it half-heartedly,” he said.
May 2022
Peaty pulls out of the upcoming World Championships, citing a fractured foot.
July 2022
Peaty finishes fourth in the Commonwealth Games, losing his first 100m race for seven years, and admits he has “lost that spark”. However, he returns to the pool two days’ later to win 50m gold.
He skips the European Championships but says he still wants to swim at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
August 2022
Peaty announces he and his partner have split up. He writes on social media: “Eiri and George, I’m sorry for letting you down.”
March 2023
Peaty withdraws from the British Championships and announces an extended break from swimming. “I’m tired, I’m not myself and I’m not enjoying the sport as I have done for the last decade. Some might recognise it as burnout; I just know that over the last few years I haven’t had the answers.”
April 2023
Peaty opens up on his mental health struggles and admits he battled to stay away from alcohol following injury and the break up of his relationship. “I got to a point in my career where I didn’t feel like myself,” he tells The Times. “I didn’t feel happy swimming and I didn’t feel happy racing, my biggest love in the sport. I’ve had my hand hovering over a self-destruct button because if I don’t get the result that I want, I self-destruct.”
