Adam Peaty among first four Team GB swimmers named in Olympic squad
BySportsbeat
Updated 19/03/2021 at 12:35 GMT
Defending Olympic champion Adam Peaty has earned a spot at the Tokyo Games for Great Britain, alongside Duncan Scott, James Wilby and Luke Greenbank. Peaty, who won the 100m breaststroke gold in 2016 and broke the world record twice in November, says "there is a lot of work to do from now until then".
Adam Peaty
Image credit: Getty Images
Adam Peaty insists the hard work starts now after being named as one of the first four swimmers selected to represent Team GB at this summer's Olympic Games.
The defending 100m breaststroke Olympic champion is joined in the team by Duncan Scott, James Wilby and Luke Greenbank, with the quartet earning their spots on the plane after winning individual medals in their respective events at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic forced a modification of British Swimming's Olympic selection policy, with the rest of the squad set to be announced following the British Swimming Championships in April.
Having been forced to wait an extra year for the chance to double his golden tally in the pool, Peaty - who also claimed men's 4x100m medley silver in Rio and is the owner of 19 of the fastest 20 times for 100m breaststroke in history - is itching to get going in Tokyo.
"I'm very happy to make the Olympic team - it's always a sense of huge pride and honour to represent my country in what I do best," said Peaty, 26, who is also reigning world champion over 50m and 100m.
"Hopefully over the next few months we can come together even more as a country, back the full Olympic team, and we can come back from Tokyo with a very successful performance behind us.
"There is a lot of work to do from now until then, but I'm very hopeful the Olympics will go ahead and it'll see continued success for Team GB."
Scott swam alongside Peaty in the men's 4x100m medley team that finished second in his first Olympic Games five years ago, while the 23-year-old Scot also picked up men's 4x200m freestyle silver in Brazil.
Wilby and Greenbank will both be making their Olympic debuts in the Japanese capital, after demonstrating their global prowess with individual world 100m breaststroke silver and 200m backstroke bronze in Gwangju in 2019 respectively.
Scott - who won 200m freestyle bronze in South Korea - added: "It's a real honour to be selected for my second Olympic Games. I loved every second of Rio - it was a great experience and one that I really wanted to have again.
"After the last year or so that we've had, with so many unknowns, it's great to get this. I'm really excited and really looking forward to the year ahead."
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