Adam Peaty wins Gold at the Olympics
The Staffordshire swimmer is the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title
Staffordshire's Adam Peaty's made history by becoming the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title.
He took gold in the men's 100 metres breaststroke at Tokyo 2020 early this morning.
While he was unable to break his own world record of 56.88 seconds, the 26-year-old from Uttoxeter stormed to Team GB's first gold of Tokyo 2020 by clocking 57.37secs, the fifth fastest time in the event's history.
Peaty's coronation has seemed inevitable as not only is his personal best almost a second quicker than anyone else who has ever competed over the distance but he is unbeaten in major competitions in seven years.
He said: It's been a heavy investment. A lot has changed this last year, more than the last five. Becoming a father, buying my first house and some days when I woke up and was like 'this is hard, this is really hard'.
I've hidden a lot of emotion from my own family, I've hidden a lot of stress and a lot of those moments where I was like 'this is very, very hard'.
It's like going for a promotion and trying to prove yourself every five years in 56-57 seconds, it's like to trying to prove what you're worth.
There's a lot of emotion, I'm probably not going to sleep for a while now, I'm so buzzed because that was the first British swimmer to ever defend a title. You can do what you want all year round; in your own arena, in your own backyard, it doesn't mean anything, it means everything here.
The 99.9 per cent of time that we spend in the dark is for the 0.01 per cent we spend in light.
That's something me and (coach) Mel (Marshall) have always believed in. That's why I don't think anyone deserves it more than me and that's not an arrogant thing.''
Peaty - who brought a gold medallion with him to the Japanese capital which reminds him of his son, George, who was born last September - read a letter his partner, Eiri, wrote the night before his historic gold medal.
Peaty, who could win a second medal in the 4x100m medley relay later this week, added: The letter goes 'this is what it's about'. I've had some messages from home but I only choose to read a few because that's all I need.
There's that film, The Last Samurai: too much mind, too much mind. All you've got to do is be present, be in the moment and enjoy it.
You don't even have to think about the stroke, that takes care of itself, so I'm glad I can go home with at least one gold medal.''