Tireless commitment behind our renewed success in the pool
Adam Peaty has revealed Team GB’S resurgence in the pool is down to tireless commitment behind the scenes after the team equalled their best-ever swimming medal haul at an Olympics.
Peaty and James Guy bagged their second golds of Tokyo 2020 and Scot Kathleen Dawson and Anna Hopkin their first, as the quartet set a world-record time in a gripping final of the inaugural mixed 4x100 metres medley relay.
Britain were celebrating their fourth gold of these Games, to go with two silvers and one bronze, matching the exact haul they achieved 113 years ago in London, with a possibilty of more today.
“I hope this team and the rest of British Swimming get the recognition and the respect they deserve because it’s been hard,” said Peaty, who retained his men’s 100m breaststroke title earlier this week.
“I’ve been doing this for seven years since 2014 and I didn’t think the team would be where they are today. You’ve got such amazing talent. It’s just incredible to be part of that and hopefully people back home are pretty pumped.”
This event has been added for the first time – where two males and two females must be selected but the nation can use any combination in the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle splits.
Dawson did not get off to an auspicious start after slipping in her push off the wall in a leg where she was up against four males, including the 100m and 200m backstroke winner Evgeny Rylov of the Russian Olympic Committee.
“I had a little bit of an issue,” said the Scot. “I couldn’t quite feel my hands. Somehow I slipped going in.
“I wasn’t quite sure what I did... when I did it. I think I managed to keep calm and after that it was about focusing to try to get the best performance I could out of myself.”
China took silver, finishing 1.28 seconds behind the winners, while Australia collected bronze.