BEST DADDIES IN THE WORLD
Max, Peaty didn’t go soft but retained crowns
FORGET those Phoenix Nights clots Max and Paddy – meet the bouncers from Team GB, Max and Peaty.
After retaining their Olympic titles with the tenacity of nightclub doormen keeping the great unwashed at bay, gymnast Max Whitlock and swimmer Adam Peaty were again standard-bearers for British excellence at Tokyo 2020.
And they are the role models who set the tone for another stunning fortnight of sporting achievement from the Brits in Japan – 65 medals in total, equalling their haul at London 2012.
Breaststroke beast Peaty began the gold rush, just as he did in Rio five years earlier, and Whitlock rode his pommel horse like a Grand National jockey hopping over Becher’s Brook at Aintree.
Neither has been thrown off course by the demands of parenthood, and if Team GB are going to prosper again at the 2024 Olympics in Paris they need look no further for a benchmark.
Whitlock, whose ambush by twoyear-old daughter Willow at Heathrow on his homecoming would have melted even the coldest heart, said: “It’s incredibly flattering to be compared with someone like Adam Peaty, who has done an incredible job for Britain as a swimming nation.
“He won Team GB’s first gold medal in Rio and he did it again in Tokyo – same result, but a totally different ball game when you’re defending an Olympic title. There is so much pressure from the outside but none greater than the pressure on yourself.
“I know from recent experience that it’s 10 times harder defending a title with a target on your back than chasing your first gold medal.
“Adam has a young son, I have a young daughter and we both have to find the right dynamic, the right balance in our lives as athletes and fathers. A lot of people were quick to write me off when my wife was pregnant, saying that fatherhood and all its distractions would have a negative impact on my performance and career.
“For that reason alone it was hugely rewarding to bring home another gold medal, not so much because it proved the doubters wrong but as a thank-you to all those who did believe in me.
“Now I have been there twice, I can honestly say that climbing the mountain in Rio was a fantastic experience – but to climb it again in Tokyo was extra special.”
Whitlock’s success is a testament to his enduring alliance with coach Scott Hann, who is the brother-in-law of the gymnast’s wife Leah.
He said: “We are not just coach and athlete, we are also family, and that alters the whole dynamic of our relationship.
“That has huge advantages because we are on the same mission, and we accept the demands of each other’s jobs mentally and physically.
“But on a personal level, he knows how important it is to be happy in every environment, at home and at work, and he understands the contours of an athlete’s work-life balance.”
● Max Whitlock is an ambassador for DFS, the official homeware partner of Team GB.