Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I think I’m on the autism spectrum.. I focus much better when I’m moving
HE has won an incredible five Olympic medals and broken a string of world records – now Adam Peaty is sharing some of the many secrets of his remarkable success.
In his new book The Gladiator Mindset, out on Thursday, the 26-year-old opens up for the first time about how he believes he could be on the autism spectrum.
He said: “One of my friends has got autism and we’re like, ‘Oh we’re very similar’, and I’m very singleminded on a task as well.”
In our exclusive extract he reveals his philosophy for achieving goals and the life that shaped him...
There are certain moments in my life that stick out as more unforgettable than others, like winning my first Olympic gold medal and the birth of my son George. But I believe it’s what you do every single day that defines you: the little kindnesses, doing things properly without cutting corners, treating people with respect, being honest. Putting your best self forward.
My mum and dad are working-class parents and I have two older brothers and one older sister. As the youngest, I was the go-to punchbag and constantly had to prove myself; it helped that I was naturally extremely competitive (if I wasn’t winning at Monopoly then no one else was going to either – I’d swipe the board!). I’ve since learnt how to lose gracefully, though it doesn’t happen often!
Growing up in my household there were a few behavioural challenges among my siblings, but despite the chaos I wanted to work even harder.
I haven’t been diagnosed but for certain I’m somewhere on the spectrum, as my mind is better able to focus when I’m moving or exercising.
Adversity is the fire in which the blade of ambition is forged, so rather than leave home I decided to stay and keep myself to myself. As a kid I was well aware of social class, but also that families were not equal or linear within the class. I wanted my mum to drive a nice car, my parents to earn more money, I wanted to say that we had been somewhere exotic for our summer holidays rather than Wales.
I also wanted a normal house to grow up in where we weren’t worrying about money, hand-me-downs or feeling guilty when my mum had to fill up the car for me to go training.
My mum used to say we were living on the poverty line, but I never actually knew what she meant by that.
It wasn’t until 2014 when I won at the Commonwealth Games and scored my first world record that I didn’t have to worry about the next pay cheque or getting my card declined when I filled my own car up.
What that inequality spawned in me as a kid was an iron determination to do well and rise above my circumstances, to make enough money so in the future my children could have everything they wanted.
Anger was a raw form of ambition embedded in me by my experience of wanting more. I didn’t have a mechanism to release these feelings of rage until, with my coach Mel Marshall’s help, I began channelling it, turning that energy into focused exertion.
Swimming is at some level an intimidation game. While I let my 30 gold medals do the talking, behind my goggles I am accessing my “fight or flight” mode. Despite not being able to train in my usual way during lockdown, as well as getting ill and
THOUGH the Japanese created a wonderful set-up for the Games, I’m a showboater, I feed off the crowd.
As I touch the wall at the turn in the final I’m leading and just a tenth of a second from my world record.
Then I turn it up a notch and give becoming a dad, in 2020 I managed to break my 12th and 13th world records.
If you really want
it full throttle. The fury is still burning inside me as I look over at Arno Kamminga who’s second. I fist-bump him. “Come on!” I yell to the empty arena. It’s a war cry to the rest of Team GB. I have won and the pressure is finally lifted... something you must find the purpose in yourself, which will drive you to meet the demands required to attain it, whatever boulders you might run into on the way. A quote I use when I’m tired and unmotivated is: “90% of success is just showing up.”
Extracted by Claire O’boyle claire.o’boyle@
mirror.co.uk
@Claireoboyle2
My Tokyo triumph would have been sweeter with fans