Adam Peaty narrowly missed out on completing a remarkable journey to Olympic glory as he won silver in the 100m breaststroke final in Paris.
Peaty, who has endured a tumultuous personal ordeal in recent years, was so close to securing a third straight Olympic breaststroke gold, with Italian Nicolo Martinenghi claiming the victory on Sunday night instead by a mere 0.02 seconds.
It meant Peaty was inches away from becoming just the second man after Michael Phelps to win the same swimming event at three Olympics.
‘It’s been a very long way back,’ Peaty said after the race as he broke down in tears.
‘I gave my absolute all. I executed it as well as I could. It’s not about the end goal, but all about the process.
Adam Peaty narrowly missed out on a third straight Olympic breaststroke gold medal in Paris
Peaty was beaten by Italian Nicolo Martinenghi (C) by an extremely narrow 0.02 seconds
Despite missing out on a third straight gold in the 100m breastroke, Peaty was full of pride
He broke down in tears in his post-race interview, but insisted that they were ‘happy tears’
Peaty’s exploits come after he endured ‘three years of hell’ after suffering from depression and alcoholism following the difficult split from his long-term girlfriend who he has a son with
‘In my heart, I’ve already won. I’m not crying because I’m second at all. These are happy tears.
‘I’m almost an older man here now. I can’t have that relentless pursuit without a sacrifice. It’s very hard to compete with the younger ones.’
Peaty was later seen greeting partner Holly Ramsay and son George in the stands, with the 29-year-old again breaking down in tears after giving his son an emotional hug.
Despite the near miss, Peaty’s performance caps a huge turnaround for the legendary athlete, just over a year since he took a break from swimming for mental health reasons.
Having won gold in the 100m breastroke in 2016 and 2020 – along with the 4x100m mixed medley relay in Tokyo – Peaty continued to enjoy a formidable record at the top of the sport, remaining unbeaten for eight years between 2014 and 2022.
However, the breakdown of his relationship in 2022 with Eirianedd Munro – who he has a son with – coupled with a battle with depression and alcoholism, led to Peaty hitting rock bottom.
In April 2023, Peaty withdrew from the British Swimming Championships and opened up on his mental health struggles, later revealing he had endured ‘three years of hell’ and that he was in a ‘self-destructive spiral’.
In 2022, Peaty separated from his Eirianedd Munro (left) after three years together
The three-time Olympic champion is now dating Holly Ramsay – daughter of TV chef Gordon
Peaty – who also appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 – admitted that he ‘didn’t want to see a pool again’ after being ‘broken’ by the sport, as he turned to drinking and partying as an escape.
This came after he had previously taken a mental health break in the aftermath of the Commonwealth games, with his eight-year unbeaten streak in the pool also ending.
Add a broken foot and a facial gash after a bust-up with a team-mate and it’s safe to say it’s been a difficult few years for Peaty.
Reflecting on his journey to BBC Sport earlier this month, the 29-year-old said: ‘It all came crashing down. I came crashing down.
‘I didn’t take a break after the Olympics in 2021. I went straight into work, did a bit of dancing because I thought it’d be the right distraction and I broke my foot later that year.
‘That led me into 2023 and having a major, major burnout.’
Peaty missed the 2022 World Championships due to his foot injury, which led to him rushing back for the Commonwealth Games, where he struggled.
‘When I lost that 100m final I spiralled,’ he added. ‘I went quite aggressive. It is an Adam I don’t really recognise.
‘I went to Melbourne [for the short course World Championships four months later] and I blew up there because I didn’t get the result I wanted.
‘I was kind of pointing fingers. I didn’t really have the maturity to kind of get over that. I pretty much lost control of the whole ship.’
Peaty’s struggles came after he had also bravely opened up on his battles with depression and alcohol following the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Peaty has previously opened up on how he hit rock bottom and took a break from swimming
Peaty went public with Holly last year and they’ve regularly been seem at events together
Holly is one of five of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s children and is an influencer and model
However, things have been looking up in recent times, with Peaty going public in his relationship with Holly Ramsay, daughter of celebrity chef Gordon, last June.
Holly is a model and influencer with more than 300,000 followers on Instagram and has previously similarly bravely opened up on her life and struggles with depression.
As part of this, Holly has her own podcast called ’21 & over’ where she has also discussed her sobriety, a move she took to boost her mental health.
Peaty had met Holly when her younger sister Tilly appeared on the same series of Strictly Come Dancing as him in 2021.
Meanwhile, Peaty further opened up on his mental health struggles to Mail Sport last June and explained how turning to Christianity helped him to turnaround the ‘destructive spiral’ he was in.
‘I go to church every Sunday,’ the British swimmer revealed. ‘It’s been the last few months and it’s definitely helped.
‘It’s about being a better person. Not only being a better athlete and fulfilling my gift, but also being a better dad for George. There are so many other reasons. It gets quite deep. But it’s great to be a part of.’
Peaty also went onto explain how a candid conversation with a priest — namely the Olympic chaplain Ashley Null — helped him make sense of his mental health struggles, while gardening and penning his thoughts in a journal have also helped.
He added: ‘He said to me, “An Olympic gold medal is the coldest thing you will ever wear”. It feels so warm because you have achieved your goal, but at what cost?
‘Relationships end, your friends and family are on the back burner, even your own children have to be on the back burner.
‘As athletes, we expect a gold medal to fix all our problems because that’s the only thing we care about, in the sense of job outcome.
‘But as soon as you realise it doesn’t fix anything, it can be the coldest thing because you have sacrificed so much. You have to make sure you address those issues.’
Along with partner Holly, another major motivation for Peaty is be his three-year-old son George, who was watching on in the stands in Paris.
Peaty is also motivated by his three-year-old son George, who was in attendance in Paris
Peaty’s silver medal marked an impressive turnaround just over a year after taking a break
Speaking before the Olympics, Peaty explained: ‘I had a FaceTime call with George and he said, “Daddy are you the fastest boy?”.
‘And that’s kind of my purpose now – to prove that I’m the fastest boy to my son.
‘I want to prove that you can come back from potentially the lowest of the lows of my whole career and that you can turn it around within 14 months, which is a very short time frame.’
And, after sacrificing so much, ‘fastest boy’ Peaty was so close to a remarkable redemption act on Sunday, but he should still take great pride from his performance that has shown just how brave and talented an athlete the 29-year-old is.
