In the immediate aftermath of a gold medal that looked unlikely just a few days ago, Adam Peaty was asked how he would celebrate.
The response of the new Commonwealth 50metre breaststroke champion was to get to work rather than focus on having completed the set of global world titles.
Peaty had been a flurry of contradictions in the build-up to the race, saying one minute he had lost the spark and then the next that he was a lion backed into a corner ready to fight. His last missive before this final was to say he was not bothered about these Commonwealth Games.
As he smashed the water of the pool on Tuesday night at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre just 40 miles away from where he grew up, the pictures told a different story.
He did the swimming version of Pat Cash at Wimbledon in 1987, throwing his swim cap into the crowd and clambering past the bank of photographers to greet his girlfriend, Eiri, and son, George. That celebration did not quite go to plan — the cap initially fell to the ground, out of the clutches of the intended fan, while George was too far away for Peaty to scoop him up.
It was a metaphor for a year and championships which have not quite clicked because of the broken foot he sustained in training in Tenerife 10 weeks ago.
For all his dominance in seasons past, Peaty showed he was human after all and that he could not win on one fully functioning leg in his main event, the 100m. It made this win all the sweeter, and the prospect of it reignited the spark in him during the morning of the race, following an exchange with his coach, Mel Marshall.
“Mel said this morning, ‘Today, you wake up and you play’,” he said. “I replied, ‘No, today I fight’ because sometimes playing is not enough. I gave everything in that race.”
And what next? Peaty had made it clear after his semi-final that Paris was all that mattered, although he rowed back on that markedly after being accused of disrespecting these Games.
Contrite over the remarks, which he said had simply come from him being rock bottom, the focus very much remains on the 2024 Olympics.
As for now, having won every major gold medal in 50m and 100m breaststroke events, Peaty was asked about his celebratory plans. He simply said: “I would say partying but I don’t feel like partying. I feel like working. Again, that is very dangerous territory for me and for everyone else.
“But my family will make me because it’s going to be a long two years and I don’t want to burn out like I have been this last year.”
In the race, he clawed his way into the lead from his usual slow start and, although Australia’s Sam Williamson came back to him, Peaty had enough left in the tank to get the touch.
Peaty also revealed he very nearly did not make it to the starting blocks of the 50m and had to be talked into it by Ross Murdoch, who finished third. Thanking the Scot, in his last race before retirement, Peaty added: “He said I’d regret it for years after, for the rest of my life. And now I’ve completed the whole collection. It is a sweet victory for me.”
