Olympic hat-trick is on the cards for Peaty - Foster
THE only person who can stop Adam Peaty making it a hat-trick of breaststroke Olympic golds at Paris 2024 is himself, that’s according to former British swimmer Mark Foster.
Peaty became the first Brit ever to retain an Olympic swimming title when he defended his Rio 2016 gold in the 100m breaststroke at Tokyo 2020 and added mixed medley relay gold and medley relay silver to his collection before the action in the pool concluded in Japan.
The 26-year-old has smashed the world record five times and his domination of the event is so stark that at one stage earlier this year he held the top 20 fastest times in history.
“The only person that has ever got near him is this new guy called [Arno] Kamminga from Holland and he’s improving, and I think he’ll improve a little bit more,” said Foster, who was Team GB’s flag bearer at Beijing 2008 and now works as a pundit for the
BBC.
“But Adam over 57 seconds is still one second ahead of the rest of the field. And if he decides that he wants to do it and is still hungry, which
I believe he is, [he will win in
Paris].
“He wants to create history - and he has already - and leave that legacy but I think one more step would really just be like God, Sir Adam Peaty, if he isn’t already.”
The British swimming team’s haul of four golds was their best Olympic performance and Foster suggested Peaty’s invincible aura helped propel his team-mates to glory.
“He has complete and utter dominance within the event, it’s mind-blowing how dominant he is and how far ahead of the field he is,” Foster added.
“From his results, the way he is and his energy around the team has inspired a few people.
“By being around someone who is that good, it rubs off. You realise that they are just like you and got the same opportunity. “I always say if you’ve got the right attitude, belief and you commit to it - anything is possible, so he’s led the way in that respect.”
Peaty recorded some incredible split times for his breaststroke leg in both the men’s and mixed medley relay races, surpassing even his own individual world record of 56.88 seconds.
“His world record is from a standing start let alone a relay start, so we know what he is capable of,” explained Foster, who was backing a charity called the Black Swimming Association that was cofounded by Team’s GB’s Alice Dearing to combat the lack of black adults who swim. “But, of course, doing it under pressure, doing it in a manner that all eyes are on you - you need to make a massive difference here, it’s our key leg and he did it.
“He did it with all that pressure.
“He knew he needed to give us the lead, he knew he needed to keep us in races and he did it. “Night after night he did it. But you can’t do it with just one person, unless you’ve got those other legs and this is the beauty of British swimming now, we’ve got strength in depth.
“You don’t win medals in relays without strength in depth and the fact that we won two relays, came second in another relay just shows you how far we’ve come as a nation.” · BY playing The National Lottery, the general public helps to raise £36m every week for good causes, including community swimming initiatives throughout the UK and elite level swimming activity. To find your nearest club, visit discover.swimming.org