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LONDON: Adam Peaty is open-minded but his mother Caroline said on Monday she hopes the three-time Olympic champion will give up competitive swimming and lead a more normal life after the Paris Olympics.
The 29-year-old Peaty becomes the first British swimmer to defend his Olympic title at Tokyo 2021, where he will be bidding for a third consecutive 100m breaststroke gold. He also has two Olympic relay silver medals.
American swimmer Michael Phelps is the only swimmer to win gold in the same event at three Olympics and Peaty said he will go to Paris this month as an underdog but calm and without any pressure.
The world record holder, who missed the 2022 world championships with a broken foot and took a break last year, has recalibrated his approach to the sport after overcoming mental health and alcohol issues.
“I know he’s happy, he’s in the position he wants to be in now and he’s safer. He’s ready for anything,” Caroline Peaty told BBC Radio.
“It’s hard to know a child is suffering, no matter how old they are. Adam is happy now – I think he’s better than he was before and this break will do him good.
“He went into the Olympics with no pressure, he was happy – just let it be. He was open about whether this was his last Olympics. I hope he can complete his swim and get back to normal now.”
Peaty, who has a three-year-old son, told reporters last month that swimming had taken its toll on him.
“When you achieve what I have achieved in sports, with Olympic gold medals and world records, it comes at a price,” he said.
“I started (the current cycle) by having to take a break from sport, and actually from life, because it was so demanding.
“No matter what the result is on the scoreboard, you look back on that experience and go, ‘Wow, I gave it my best’. I will never regret giving my best. And I give it my best every day,” he added.
“But I would have regretted not trying. I could have stopped 14 months ago… I would have watched from a distance, knowing in my heart that I could have given it a try.”
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