Adam Peaty insisted he had neither regrets nor rancour about his loss despite narrowly missing out on a third straight Olympic 100m breaststroke gold medal on Sunday to Italian Nicolo Martinenghi.
Peaty cried his eyes out after the race, hugging his three-year-old son and his girlfriend Holly Ramsey and he said it was the emotions of being with those closest to him that had brought out the tears.
“I think when I hug (son) George, as soon as I saw his curly hair, I’m like, I’m gone. I’m crying,” he said.
“Any parent or anyone that, you know, has that love, it’s just, it’s just a different type of love, something that swimming can’t give me any more – and I don’t want it to give me any more,” he said.
Peaty has focused heavily on his mental health after batting some demons in recent years, including depression, and he has repeatedly insisted that he no longer looks to results to give him self-worth.
“I’m not looking for these performances to give me a gratification of, ‘Oh, I’m okay, I’m the winner and it defines my whole journey’. I’m so happy to pass the baton to Nicolo because I’ve embraced him so long,” he added.
The 24-year-old Italian won by just two hundredths of a second and Peaty was philosophical about the narrow margin of victory which left him sharing silver with American Nic Fink.
“In my head, before the race, I was like, it could go either way, but I’m not going to be someone who beats myself up over 0.02 because it’s not a healthy way to really reflect on the career that I’ve had so far and I’m grateful for the career that I’ve had,” he said.
Peaty said that he had woken up with a throat infection on Sunday but was quick to dismiss any suggestion that had an impact.
“It wasn’t an excuse at all, because I don’t ever want that to be an excuse but it’s a curveball that I’ve had to respond to,” he said.
“You can train eight years for something and not feel 100 percent on the day. And 100 percent costs you 0.02. And that’s just the way it is.”
The Englishman, who burst onto the scene in 2014 with world championship silver medals in the 100m and 50m breaststroke in Doha, said he was grateful to have been able to have a lengthy career at the top in a sport where so many winners enjoy only fleeting success.
“2014 was 10 years ago. It’s a long time in this sport. You know, if I look at the top 16 or top eight in any event, how many are still here from 10 years ago? How many are still winning medals?
“I’m so grateful to still be here and still find new ways. And unfortunately, today was 0.02 too slow.”
