Record-breaker Adam Peaty is home from #Tokyo2020 and ready for a rest – after he’s jet-washed the garden fence. @rosiekinchen meets the king of the swimmers. thetimes.co.uk/article/adam-p…
Two weeks ago, Peaty’s torpedo-like form slid through the water to win the 100m breaststroke, winning the first gold medal of the #Olympics for Britain.
He went on to win another gold in the mixed 4x100m relay, in a world record time.
He went on to win another gold in the mixed 4x100m relay, in a world record time.
You would expect Peaty, 26, to be walking on air — yet days afterwards he announced that he was going to take a month off to prioritise his mental health.
It prompted inevitable griping from Piers Morgan, who tweeted: “I love Peaty and he’s a great champion but we do need some perspective about sporting pressure.”
Peaty is too smart to have responded to the broadcaster directly.
Peaty is too smart to have responded to the broadcaster directly.
“I know that’s exactly what he wants,” he says. “It’s a game of chess and I’m not going to play into people’s hands like that.”
“I would be unwell if I kept going and I know because I’ve been there before. It’s knowing yourself and trying to stay ahead of the curve,” Peaty adds.
The intensity of the build-up to the #Olympics is hard to take.
“It is as though you were climbing Everest,” he explains. “Every single day you have got to climb a little bit harder with a little bit less oxygen.”
“It is as though you were climbing Everest,” he explains. “Every single day you have got to climb a little bit harder with a little bit less oxygen.”
“Every day you are more fatigued, you have more doubts, you have less energy for people, you have more irritation.”
Add to that the disruption of the pandemic and you start to see what the past 12 months have been like. “The pressure has been different this year and I felt it a bit more because of Covid,” Peaty says.
Sport isn’t life and death but for Peaty it might as well be. “I’ve had thoughts that I would rather die than lose because I’ve wanted it so badly and that’s a completely unhealthy way of approaching life,” he says.
Read the full interview with @adam_peaty thetimes.co.uk/article/adam-p…
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