Olympic gold in Tokyo will be ‘10 times harder’ than Rio - Peaty
OLYMPIC champion Adam Peaty believes defending his title in Tokyo will be ‘10 times harder’ than winning in Rio as the hunter becomes the hunted.
Peaty has only improved since winning gold in the 100m breaststroke in 2016, and in August broke his own world record with a time of 57.10.
But while that makes him the favourite 15 months out from the Tokyo Games, Peaty believes the heat is on.
“In 2016, I was pretty much the hunter, now I’m the hunted,” the 24-year-old said. “Which is a very accurate way to put it. Everyone’s out for my title. I don’t mind that, it keeps me on my toes.
“Tokyo, it’s going to be a very fast final, it’s going to be a very fast competition, but for me I just stay chill, do what I do, and that’s it really. I don’t see any reason to over-complicate it.
“Winning it once is hard, but winning it a second time round, because of all the pressure and all the media and everything around that, is probably 10 times harder. But again that’s what we do, we’re athletes, we rise to the challenge.”
Peaty continued his good form to claim the British 50m and 100m breaststroke titles in Glasgow last week, but he admitted he still faces a battle against the grind of the sport.
“In the winter, I almost had that time off mentally,” said Peaty, speaking at a Science in Sport PROTEIN20 launch. “The longevity of my sport, when you’re following a lap line, for 12,000 meters a day, 10,000 meters a day, it does get very tedious and you’ve got to stay motivated.”