Tom’s mum says ‘heart was bursting with pride’
Swimming: Jacquie praises her son's professionalism and dignity at Tokyo Games
Tom Dean’s mother, Jacquie Hughes, said this week her heart was ‘bursting with pride’ as her son became Olympic champion after winning 200m freestyle gold in Tokyo on Tuesday.
In a video that’s been watched by thousands, possibly millions across the world, Tom’s family, friends and clubmates at Maidenhead Marlins Swimming Club, gathered in Jacquie’s back garden to watch the 21year-old in final action, and they raised the decibel levels to ear-splitting levels when he touched home just 0.04 seconds in front of teammate Duncan Scott to take gold.
With 50m to go the University of Bath student had plenty of work to do, but he powered down the home straight to finish in 1.44.22.
Just over 24 hours later, he was at it again, leading out GB’s 4x200m freestyle team of Scott, James Guy and Matt Richards to victory in convincing fashion, with the team missing out on a world record by just 0.03 seconds.
Jacquie was proud just to see her son competing at his first Olympic Games and would have been deliriously happy had he brought home any colour of medal. As it was, he became the first British man to win two gold medals at the same Olympics since 1908.
His achievement is all the more remarkable considering he contracted COVID19 twice in the past year and spent a couple of spells in isolation, unable to train, while his rivals across the world put in more training hours in the pool.
Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday morning, Jacquie said: “I said to him, Tom my heart is bursting, and it’s not just because he won a gold medal. It’s the way he conducts himself, the way he picks himself up after disappointments.
“He’s had two bouts of COVID which really knocked his plan off. I’m just so proud of the way he approaches it, so professionally, with such dignity, and he always cares about the other swimmers.
“That’s what makes me so proud.”
For helping him keep a level head through those difficult periods of isolation and inactivity, Dean thanked his coach, David McNulty, after winning the first of his two gold medals.
“I knew it would be a dogfight, I didn’t know how everybody else would swim but a race is a race,” Dean told the BBC. “I’d like to say thanks so much to everyone back home – my mum, family, girlfriend and everybody for staying up.
“I’m lost for words. It’s amazing. To have two Brits on the podium and going 1-2 shows our dominance in this event and shows how far British Swimming and Team GB has come. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“My coach Dave McNulty, I can’t thank him enough for what he has done, but he said we’re writing an amazing story this year with the COVID cases.
“I had 6-7 weeks out of the pool, which in an Olympic year is unheard of.
“He brought me through it, and I can’t thank him enough for it.
“Here we are, I couldn’t ask for a better ending to the story.”