Tom Dean knows the ecstasy and agony of the 200m freestyle too well. Four lung-busting laps of the pool, the roar of the crowd bouncing off the walls of the arena, and the patience behind every neat stroke, harnessed over thousands of hours in the pool each year, to glide through the water. Hundredths of a second will separate glory from utter despair and dejection.
Great Britain’s double Olympic champion in Tokyo, the first swimmer to achieve as much at the same Games since 1908, snatched gold away from his close friend and teammate Duncan Scott by four hundredths of a second. But roles were reversed in Fukuoka at this summer’s World Championships and, reflecting on another gripping race, Dean conceded that he was “owed an unlucky touch”. This time, another teammate, Matt Richards, stormed home to pinch gold by a mere two hundredths of a second.
