… while swimmer TOM DEAN shares his golden memories with family as he returns home
THE OLYMPIC CHAMPION TELLS WHY GOLDEN MUM JACQUIE DESERVES A MEDAL TOO
He’s still basking in a blaze of glory after his success in Tokyo, but when Olympic swimming champion Tom Dean invites hello! to join him as he brings his two gold medals back home to his proud family, he tells us it’s his mum, Jacquie Hughes, who deserves gold.
“I couldn’t have done it without her, so to be able to share some of that success with my mum and my family is all I could ever want. These are their gold medals as much as they are mine,” says Tom, who enthralled the nation by becoming Team GB’s first male swimmer to become Olympic champion twice in the same Games in 113 years, reigning supreme in the 200m freestyle then in the 4x200m relay alongside teammates Matt Richards, James Guy and Duncan Scott.
“I owe a massive debt of gratitude to my mum,” adds the 21-year-old as he is joined by Jacquie and his siblings Connie, 22, Nancy, 19, Alfie, 18, and William, 16, for hello!’ s exclusive photoshoot at their Maidenhead home, just hours after touching down from Tokyo.
“I was a lazy teenager and she got me up early on those dark winter mornings when it was the last thing I wanted to do.”
‘ These are my family’s gold medals as much as they are mine’ Tom
Jacquie – a single mum for the past eight years – has become a star in her own right. The video of her celebrating Tom’s freestyle win, in the garden at 3am along with dozens of family and friends, went viral, racking up more than three million views within days.
“I think my mum needs an agent more than I do!” says Tom, who is more than happy to share the limelight, while a somewhat sheepish Jacquie adds with a laugh: “I did apologise to Tom and said: ‘I hope you don’t think we’re stealing your thunder.’”
“I treasure that footage as much as the medals themselves,” adds Tom, whose efforts in Tokyo helped the Team GB swimming squad enjoy its most successful Olympics ever, with a haul of eight medals in total.
Having Tom back in the family fold is the icing on the cake for his mum. “The Olympic athletes have been the property of everyone else for a while, so to have Tom back – not as Tom Dean the athlete, just Tom, who can relax and eat and sleep when he wants – that is really precious,” says Jacquie, who organised a huge street party to celebrate her son’s homecoming. It was an emotional reunion for the Olympian after five weeks away and the bittersweet moment of accepting his medals on the podium but not being able to look up to the stands and see his family cheering him on.
WELL-EARNT REST
Now he is looking forward to a month of blissful relaxation surrounded by his loved ones, including girlfriend Catherine Ross, whom he has been with for just over a year after meeting while studying at Bath University.
“She’s been amazing. It’s not easy when I haven’t been able to be with her for a lot of events because of training, early mornings and recovery,” he says.
Tom is also looking forward to “making up for lost time” with his siblings, who “can bring me back down to earth if I ever get too big for my boots”.
“Even on today’s photoshoot, I’ve got my brothers laughing at me [while I’m] getting my hair and make-up done,” Tom laughs.
The Dean siblings are a “tight bunch”, says their mum, and they’re brought closer by their shared love of the water. “All five of them swam from when they were babies,” explains Jacquie. “Tom and William are still swimming, Connie [Tom’s
training partner] went off to America [for four years] to swim. They have a shared experience of getting up at 5am, training, going to competitions.”
Tom has dreamt of going to the Olympics since he was eight, when he watched US swimming phenomenon Michael Phelps on television. “I remember asking my mum: ‘How does someone go to the Olympics?’”
Thirteen years later, Tom’s dream has come true – and after some well-deserved time off, he’s diving straight back into the pool.
“I have my sights set on Paris 2024,” he says. “As soon as I walked into the Olympic Village, I knew I wanted to do it all over again. I’m going to put in the hard work H that I know it takes.”
‘ The Olympic athletes have been the
property of everyone else, so to have Tom back is precious’ Jacquie