Lauds positive energy of Maltese swimmers during AP Race Clinic
Over 100 young Maltese swimmers had an experience of a lifetime as they attended a swimming clinic conducted by six-time Olympic champion Adam Peaty and his AP Race Team at the Cottonera Sports Complex on Saturday.
The three-time Olympic Games gold medallist was delighted with the energy shown by the participating swimmers and said that fun is an integral part of practising the sport.
“This is my third visit here in Malta,” Peaty told the Times of Malta.
“I came the first time over ten years ago in a training camp with the British team, and I remember that we had some hard sessions. Malta is a very beautiful country and I met some fabulous people who transmitted a lot of positive energy.
“I enjoyed working with the young swimmers this morning, they showed all their character and positive energy, and the most important thing is that we had so much fun and we enjoyed it.”
Peaty is a legendary figure in international swimming circles, not just because of his enormous success in the pool, winning three gold medals at the Olympics as well as setting a series of world records, but also for establishing himself as a role model for aspiring athletes.
Asked how important it is for him to set an example to young sportsmen, Peaty said that this has become his mission statement, not just for him but also for his AP Race Team.
“If I look from when I started the sport professionally till today, my perspective has changed,” Peaty said.
“When you are a young athlete, you are chasing validation and try to quantify the things you do in the number of medals you manage to win.
“But when you grow older, you start looking more at the impact you have in the community, whether it is sport, business, or family.
“I realised how important this was in 2019 when we started our clinics in the United Kingdom and felt the need to guide this community into a different direction by sport, and this is done by bridging the gap between grassroots and elite sport, firstly.
“But it is important to give them the realisation that it is a hard journey and we can support these grassroots swimmers in their Olympic journey, and it is very difficult. Education is a huge part of it, but more important is retention.
“Retaining swimmers in the sport is crucial, as there is a lot of burnout because of the way that it has been done over the past 20 years; there has hardly been any change.
“The end goal is that we have a major change in 10 or 20 years, but what we can do for now is to enjoy every day, have excellence in what we do, and find joy in hardships that swimmers don’t want do.”
Peaty may have enjoyed a lot of success in the 2016 and 2021 Olympics, as he returned home with the gold medal around his neck. But the legendary breaststroker experienced the hardship of the sport in Paris 2024, where he had to settle for the silver medal in the 100m breaststroke and mulled retirement.
However, since then, Peaty has had a change of heart and is targeting to race again in Los Angeles in three years, and he is once more going for gold and ending his Olympic career on his terms, with no regrets.
“It’s clear that I’m an older athlete now,” Peaty said.
“The 2016 and 2021 Olympics were great, but Paris was not short of challenges, from burning out and with a massive risk of retiring from the sport there and then in 2023 so it took a major comeback to get to Paris alone.
“Actually, in Paris, I was quite ill. So you can do a lot of work, and you can still get ill, and it is what it is. But I still managed to touch the wall and I was quite happy under the circumstances. It was a hard result, but a good result, as it could have been worse.
“Then I said to myself, this can’t be it, I want to finish on a high, I want attempt to do that as I’m still young to do that, and I don’t want any regrets.
“We are going for it and see what opportunities and challenges arise.”
As we concluded our short interview, Peaty had a special message to upcoming swimmers.
“Everything has to be done in balance,” Peaty said.
“The journey any athlete goes through is extremely long and hard, and finding the love for the sport, but also relying on the support of the community and your support network, and knowing when that love for the sport has turned into something you hate and burning you out.
“We have a certain amount of energy for certain things and in sport we take a huge amount of it and we need to balance that long term, especially in terms of mental health.
“I spoke to the kids and told them that the road is long and if you need to take a break, but don’t quit, as you will regret it.”
