Defending Olympic title no distraction for Peaty
Adam Peaty insists the prospect of becoming the first Team GB swimmer to defend an Olympic title is “not a distraction”.
The 26-year-old took gold in the 100m breaststroke in Rio, and broke his own world record en route to another at the World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, in 2019.
The Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth champion has set the 15 fastest 100m breaststroke times in history, his quickest of 56.88 being a second faster than Holland’s Arno Kamminga, who set 57.9 at the Dutch National trials in May.
Ahead of the Games, which begin on Friday, Peaty said the chance of another world record was “within reach, if I get my preparation right”.
He said: “Going into these Games next week, no British swimmer has ever defended an Olympic title.
“I think that’s obviously in the back of my mind that I want to do that.
“But it’s not a distraction and obviously, as every Olympics, I want to inspire as many people as they come back home, and especially this year, when people have been through such a rough time that we can show that just because we have been through that doesn’t mean that we have to stand still, or you know, retreat, or kind of take a step backwards.
“We can always, you know, go through that adversity with a bit of British humour and say, ‘You know what? Let’s have this one.'”
Peaty said he was entering the Games in Tokyo knowing that “sport is sport, anything can happen”, but that his previous success will stand him in good stead.