Adam Peaty: Lion Will Roar My Values And Remind Me How I Became Olympic Champion

The Rio 2016 Olympics long gone, SwimVortex continues its look at the reflections of the champions and others who stepped up ge the podium at the Games in August, at the things that flowed from success and plans already made for the follow-up.

After the men’s 50m freestyle and Anthony Ervin and the 100m freestyle and Kyle Chalmers, we turned to Joseph Schooling, the US-college-based ace from Singapore, and then to the woman swimmer of the Games and generation, Katie Ledecky, and the swimmer who pressed her close over 200m freestyle, Swedish pioneer, Sarah Sjostrom, the Olympic 100m butterfly champion. We then turned to the man who goes down in history as the swimmer who made Michael Phelps think again about when his time was up, Chad Le Clos, who considered himself a ‘failure’ for being the first man with a clean record to stop the clock in the Olympic 200m freestyle final, for taking shared silver in the 100m butterfly but missing the medals in the event that will keep him hungry for four more year.

Today: Adam Peaty (GBR), whose 57.13sec world record in the 100m breaststroke in Rio marked the single most outstanding performance in the pool at the 2016 Olympic Games. The following is a version of a feature that appears in The Sunday Times in Britain today.

The Roar, With Him Always

Adam Peaty by Gianmattia D’Alberto-Pirroke LaPresse for arena

You can almost hear the roar, so close to the Colloseum our meeting place in Rome. This is not Spartacus before me and the lion is a tattoo running from one of the biggest shoulders in swimming almost to the elbow of the Olympic champion but when it comes to modern-day gladiators,  Adam Peaty entered the pantheon of the legendary in Rio back in August.

The 21-year-old from Uttoxeter in England not only claimed Britain’s first Olympic gold among men in the pool for 28 years in Brazil: the world record he set at 57.13sec for the biggest winning margin over 100m breaststroke in Olympic history was the outstanding performance in the pool at the Games. As far as a single swim goes, Peaty even outperformed the royal two, Michael Phelps and his fellow American multi-gold-medallist teammate Katie Ledecky.

Job done? The broad grin and twinkle in the eye is that of a boy who got the joke. “You wouldn’t believe how many people have asked me if I’m going to retire now,” says Peaty with a shake of the head.

“I’m like ‘what you on about?’ This is just the start. This is what I wanted. Now for the legacy.”

That means raising the bar and setting an example, in and out of the pool. It means “Project 56” with coach Melanie Marshall and much more, stretching all the way to inspiring a generation to want to be “not just famous but famous for actually achieving something”.

His own achievement as clear as where he wants to go next: Peaty aims to take the world record below 57sec in an event in which his dominance already makes him one of the outstanding pioneers of his sport.

Johnny “Tarzan” Weissmuller [Courtesy: ISHOF]

Roar – Adam Peaty, 57.13. By Patrick B. Kraemer

When he clocked 57.92 to become the first man to race inside 58sec last year, Peaty elevated the slowest of all four strokes to a pace many thought would not be seen for a few more Olympic cycles to come. Expectation shaken, he shredded it in Rio: at 57.13, the City of Derby Swimming Club ace was travelling inside the pace of Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller, at his best ever on freestyle back in 1924 and now has his sights set on a zone Mark Spitz reached for his first world record on butterfly in 1967.

No-one in history is within 1.3sec of him (and ocean over two laps) on the clock, while Peaty has seven of the best 10 times ever, with the bulk of medal contenders at global level still struggling to crack 59sec.

His speed and presence now striking fear into the hearts of those he races before the gun goes off, what need of a lion? “The lion stands along anytime he needs to – he doesn’t need a pack to go into battle. He can walk alone anytime and take down a herd if he needs to,” says Peaty, his jaw quaring a touch as he speaks.

“I will draw on that before I race. It [the tattoo] will remind me what I stand for. It’s with me for life now and I’ll know what it means whenever I look at it; it will remind me of my values and how I became and Olympic champion.”

In the mirror, what did Rio look like? “It was my first Olympic Games and it couldn’t have been a better outcome. We (Great Britain, with Chris Walker-Hebborn, James Guy and Duncan Scott) could have got gold in the [medley] relay but we were outperforming there anyway.”

Peaty had struggled to find his very best form at world titles last year but had still managed to take gold in the 50 and 100m in tussles with the London 2012 100m champion Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA). In Rio, the Brit had moved up a league and made it all look so easy. It wasn’t, though the beautiful horizon of Belo Horizonte gave way to a realisation once in the Olympic pool that the world had been done and if there was anywhere in the world he belonged at that moment it was right there in Rio.

“Going into Rio, I was quite nervous because I didn’t know what to expect,” Peaty explains. “At the holding camp I was around all these big athletes in Belo from many sports. But when I got into the pool in Rio and the big arena, that was it, I knew I was ready to take it on.

“I had none of the anxiety I had last year at the World championships. I dealt with that problem and by the time we got to Rio I just wanted to get out there and race and perform. I’ve watched final back: I was so focussed. I didn’t even really know how I did that. It was crazy. To go away with a 57.1 is mad.”

He had wanted a 57.3, while 57.1 “was well above my expectations. It just proves you can step up and do it if that’s what you’ve prepared to do”.

Adam Peaty by Gianmattia D’Alberto – LaPresse

Preparations for Rio also taught him to disregard chatter and the pub-room crystal-balling that goes on in sport among those whose guesses are often far from educated when not comes to knowing what any particular athlete  is ready to do come the biggest hour. Rio and many a result proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Says Peaty: “On some fan websites, you get linked in to these big discussions where people are saying ‘he won’t do it’, Kevin Cordes is going to take him down’ or whatever they were saying. Stuff like that is all guessing games: those people have no physical evidence, no idea what I’ve been working towards and how much work I’ve put in.

“Stuff like that makes me even more eager to do it and prove what I’ve been working on. I’m just so happy to have delivered on that and now have that to sink in, to realise what it took, not just for me but for Mel, for my family; it’s been hard for them sometimes, too.”

Olympic champion. Had it all sunk in? “Gradually … It takes time,” says Peaty. He had woken up that morning to the luxury of the Waldorf Astoria in Rome, had sauntered down to breakfast with his kit sponsor arena and realised that none of this would have been a part of his life were it …

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