‘Olympic experience was like no other’, says Dean
From competitor to cheerleader for town’s double Olympic champion
The Olympic experience was like no other for Maidenhead’s Tom Dean, who admitted his work wasn’t quite done when he stepped out of the pool last week having won two Olympic gold medals for Great Britain.
Dean stormed to victory in the 200m freestyle, touching the wall just a few hundredths of a second ahead of compatriot Duncan Scott, with whom he shared an apartment in Tokyo, while 24 hours later he led off Britain’s successful quartet in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
He had been in line to possibly swim in one or two of the other relay events but was stood down by British Swimming to give other team members an opportunity to medal, and at this point his role switched from competitor to cheerleader.
“An Olympic experience is like no other,” he said. “It’s the pinnacle of our sport and it comes around once every four years or five in this case.
“We don’t have a World Cup or Grand Slams, it’s all about the Games for us and it’s very much a level above anything else.
“Commonwealths, Europeans, they don’t come close to this, so it was exciting to be in the Olympic Village, surrounded by loads of athletes from different sports and countries, people who are at the top of their game.
“When you finish racing, your job is not finished. At and said the athletes were looked after really well by the Olympic organising committee.
“It was amazingly surreal to have such a quick return,” he said. “Our final race was delayed by a day because of a typhoon in Tokyo, but our flight home had already been booked, so although most athletes had 48 hours to leave Japan after racing, it was less than 24 hours after we finished racing that point it becomes about supporting the other athletes, not just the people in your apartment but the whole of Team GB.
“That might be helping them get what they need, or just going along to the swimming races and supporting. Being that cheering voice in the crowd.
“Duncan (Scott) was still racing, and we were sharing an apartment with him, so it was about making it the best environment for him. If he needed to relax and have a nap and recover, then we’d all be quite and let him get on. If he needed anything else to help him swim at his best, then we were there to support him. It’s an exciting job in itself.”
The excitement of spending time with some of the best athletes in the world, competitors who he’s seen on television and cheered on from afar, also wasn’t lost on Tom.
“It’s really cool,” he said. “When you go to other competitions you’re surrounded by other countries, but it’s usually just their swimmers.
“All of a sudden, you’re surrounded by the best in the world in all sorts of sports. The basketballers are sevenfoot tall, the power lifters, the rugby players. People who are specialised in their events and, for someone who just loves watching top level sport, that’s just so exciting.
“We weren’t able to watch any other sports, so it was very much a case of supporting Team GB athletes in the pool and, as soon as the swimming was finished, we were on the plane home.”
Tom also spoke about the first time he saw the video of his family and friends celebrating his first gold medal in the 200m individual freestyle, a clip that went viral around the world and gained him and his family plenty of media attention.
He said: “I saw the video when I got back from the pool in the 200m free. After the race you have press conferences and media obligations, and then it’s doping control and recovery processes.
“I hadn’t even turned on my phone until I got back to the flat and one of my flatmates said, have you seen this video it’s absolutely blown up everywhere.
“I got it up on my phone and ended up watching it a few times because it’s so exciting to see everyone back home, all your family and friends cheering you on, it’s great to see and quite emotional as well.”