WHO DARES SWIMS
Gold hero Peaty got tips off SAS veteran
OLYMPICS hero Adam Peaty got tips from an ex-SAS soldier to help him win gold.
The swimmer bagged two golds and a silver in Tokyo, including retaining his men’s 100m breaststroke title, as Team GB claimed a record eight medals in the pool.
And the 26-year-old has revealed he had a special weapon in his bid for glory after consulting an elite special forces veteran for advice on how to keep his head above water.
Adam said: “I learned through an ex-SAS soldier and he said that through his whole career, what helped him was that if they had a problem but if they couldn’t do anything about it, stop worrying about it.
“If there’s nothing we can do about it then why are we worrying anyway? So accept it and push on.
“I know it sounds a lot more simple than it is, because sometimes I’ve got a problem in my head and I can’t get around it.
“It’s trying to put your brain into that mindset that if you can’t help it, then why do we worry?”
Adam said that he used the SAS technique to focus on winning and pour cold water on pressure in the pool.
He added: “It’s being completely honest with yourself and trying not to hide those feelings that may create anxiety.
“So if someone swims extremely fast before the Olympics, that would create anxiety for everyone because it would be, ‘What are they going to do in the Olympics?.’
“But for me it would be like, ‘Doesn’t mean anything.’ I know on the day I’m the best performer in the world and I’ve got six or seven years of championships and world records to prove that. “It’s having that confidence. Everyone has anxiety but as an athlete, if there’s nothing I can do about it then expel it because there is no place for that energy to take away from my own energy. It’s almost like a demon on my shoulder.”