Tokyo 2020 - 'No one has been through what I have been through' - Adam Peaty opens up after dominant showing

ByEurosport

Updated 26/07/2021 at 05:22 GMT

Adam Peaty won Team GB's first Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020 in the 100m breaststroke final. Peaty became the first British swimmer to retain an Olympic title in the 100m breaststroke and is ecstatic about achieving his second career gold. Watch every unmissable moment live from Tokyo 2020 across Eurosport, the Eurosport app and discovery+. Download the Eurosport app for iOS and Android now.

Adam Peaty says “no one can race like I can race” after becoming a back-to-back Olympic champion in the 100m breaststroke.

The 26-year-old won Team GB's first Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020, bringing it home in a time of 57.37 seconds.

The Brit screamed "come on!" after realising he had won his second Olympic gold medal and was visibly emotional after a fine performance where he recorded the fifth fastest time in Olympics history.

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The two-time Olympic champion says that “no one works harder” than him and that he has had to overcome adversity to achieve the gold medal.

• Peaty wins Team GB's first gold medal at Tokyo in 100m breaststroke
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“It’s crazy,” he told Eurosport’s Greg Rutherford after the race.

“It’s been a very hard five years. With Covid last year it unsettled my rhythm, my championship mindset hence why when you go into a morning final it’s not who’s good all year round. You can post what time you want in April. Me and my corner as soon as the gun goes the talking stops.

I knew it was going to be a race tonight. It wasn’t about the time. Tonight I know in my blood and my bones no one has worked harder. No one has been through what I’ve been through and no one can race like I can race. If they want to take that on then God help them but I’m glad I’ve closed this chapter.

“There was a lot of pressure, especially with being a father. I want my son to look up to me and this will show him that even if you go through the worst times you can still come back out on top.

“I didn’t feel completely myself. Whether it’s the morning finals or whether it’s something to do with psychology I’m not sure. It doesn’t matter.

'No one has been through what I have been through' - Peaty opens up after dominant showing

“You can spend 10 years writing the handbook but when it comes to the morning you can be like ‘you know what, f*** it I’m not doing that’. This morning I didn’t feel particularly special. But I thought I’m going to fight to the last breath.

“This morning it wasn’t about what time you post in the heats or the semis, it’s how you deliver on the moment on the day. I knew down that last 15m it wasn’t me swimming. It was my nation, my family, my blood, my sweat and my tears. My bad moments, my good moments came into that swim and it’s paid off.”

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Watch every unmissable moment live from Tokyo 2020 across Eurosport, the Eurosport app and discovery+. Download the Eurosport app for iOS and Android now.

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