Adam Peaty suffered 'lowest of the lows' as Brit looks to copy Michael Phelps at Olympics
Adam Peaty has the weight of a nation on his shoulders again as he chases more gold medals at the Paris Olympics.
There have been many versions of Adam Peaty during a decade lived in a very public gaze.
Whether this is Peaty 3.0 or 4.0 is up for debate, but there is no doubt he's a very different man from 2021. The big question … is he a very different swimmer?
In the days before Tokyo, where he defended his 100m breaststroke title, Peaty was wound up like a prize fighter. He talked big and brash - and almost as fast as he swam.
Three years on, though still only 29, Peaty arrives in Paris a little more reflective and a little humbler. The competitive fire still burns bright, but perhaps without the white heat intensity of previous Olympic campaigns.
"I've a different relationship with a gold medal now; I know it won't solve any of the problems that I want it to," he said.
"When you are younger, you think it will, but I know now it doesn't.
"Obviously, I do this to win; I want to be the best, but the thing that excites me now is the challenge. I'm an older athlete, and I think more about my relationship with winning.
"Is it defined by time or something else? I've got peace about this. You only get one chance to get it right, but I'm sure I can do it again.
"The loudest man in the room is the weakest. I don't have to shout that I'm good or promise I'm going to do this or that. I know my ability; I know what I'm capable of. I've just got to execute that now.
"It is so different from what I was seeking in Tokyo and so different from even what I was trying to do in Rio. I know I have nothing to prove here."
Peaty is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.
In the days before Tokyo, Peaty talked a lot about his 'no-excuse mentality'. His commitment was total, and his self-belief unwavering. Nicknamed 'The Beast', there was only beauty in topping the podium, and nothing else mattered.
He'd consumed performance psychologist Bill Beswick's 'Changing Your Story' and would verbatim recount tracts from it like his own personal scriptures.
A mental health breakdown last February and the well-publicised break-up of his relationship with the mother of his three-year-old son George, has made Peaty reassess his relationship with success.
"I want to prove that you can come back from the lowest of the lows of my whole career and you can turn it around in potentially 14 months," he added.
"I am a very emotional person; I use my emotion to my advantage when it is required now.
"I like to live simply. I've just done a FaceTime with my son, and he said, 'Daddy, are you the fastest boy?' and that’s kind of my purpose now: to prove that I am the fastest boy for my son because he only sees it as that.
"Getting to the starting line is a huge one for me, but I’m not one of those people to give out medals for turning up.
"I’m a little bit older now, a little bit wiser, a little bit more open-eyed about what is around me, and a lot calmer. I have never been this calm and relaxed before an Olympics."
Michael Phelps is the only male swimmer to have won three straight golds in one event, a pretty exclusive club Peaty seeks to join.
Like Peaty, Phelps's struggles outside the pool have been well publicised. The all-time record 28 medals he won came at a cost, with feelings of depression and anxiety morphing into suicidal thoughts and substance abuse.
“Michael had a lot of things going on between all that success," he said.
"My journey feels very similar in some ways. You’ve got to deal with the cards. I’ve questioned whether I had enough in me to go for a third Olympics, but I decided I was willing to pay that cost, and I’m excited to see what I can do.”
This new version of Peaty is more balanced and, perhaps, more likeable, his answers honest, considered, and intelligent. There is still the swagger—and his 57.95-second winning time at the British Championships ranks him world number one this year—but it's tempered with self-deprecation.
This weekend, we'll learn whether his new approach brings the same result.
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