Four years ago 17 year old Adam Peaty ended his season with a lifetime best of 29.07 in the 50 and a 1:02.35 in the 100 breaststroke, four years later he found himself standing atop of the podium at the Olympic Games winning the 100 breaststroke in a world record time of 57.13, “Standing on the podium gave me no prouder moment, it was such an amazing feeling to have all the country behind me,” Peaty told SwimSwam.

Over the last four years Peaty’s improvement has been jaw dropping:

50 breaststroke 100 breaststroke 2012 29.07 1:02.35 2013 27.61 59.92 2014 26.62 58.68 2015 26.42 57.92 2016 26.66 57.13

In 2012 not many could see his rise to the top of the swimming world coming, including Peaty himself, “No, definitely not!” said Peaty responding to the question of whether he believed he would achieve what he has four years ago. “Although the belief was always there I never thought that long ago that it would happen to me. It only really set in around 2 years ago when I knew I could pull out something special when it really mattered.”

His first breakthrough came at the 2013 British National Youth Championships where he won the 50 breaststroke and the 100 breaststroke. In 2014 he went on to win gold in the 100 breaststroke at the Commonwealth Games and just a few weeks later won both the 50 and 100 breaststroke at the European Championships, breaking Cameron van der Burgh‘s world record in the 50 in the semi-finals. In 2015 he set world records in both the 50 and 100 breaststroke along with winning both events at the World Championships in Kazan.

Because of his quick progression heading into Rio Peaty had limited international experience, but was extremely successful each time he raced at the sports highest levels of competition, “I think as I did those meets then I just became a lot more confident in believing in my training and stroke whilst I raced. I was never scared to take on the world which is what a lot of athletes struggle with. I didn’t give too much emotional energy into most of the races until the final, as obviously that is the one that counts.”

“I learned a lot about myself and how to get the best from myself. As soon as I learned what breaststroke is all about it made it much easier to race fast.”

“I think as I grew older and I became much more mature, then so did my racing.”

“My stroke became much stronger and under the guidance of Melanie Marshall and her confidence in me, it made me a lot better at handling my nerves and finding the right areas to see where I was going wrong (such as my dive) and how to improve them effectively.”

Marshall has coached Peaty for much of his swimming career. She has a great deal of experience on the international stage as an athlete competing at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics as well as winning six medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. That experience along with the coach swimmer relationship her and Peaty have developed is a big reason for his success, “Mel has amazing charisma and personality; great balance between friend and professionalism,” said Peaty.

Marshall, who is the Head Coach of the City of Derby swimming club, became the first woman to win the British Swim Coaches Association Coach of the Year Award in 2014 and won the award again in 2015.

Peaty was one of only five athletes who took gold in Kazan and were able to win gold in Rio in the same event, “I think at the end of the day I just love to race and the Olympics is everything that I had trained for and I didn’t see being world champion and world record holder as a bad thing at all, it was much more of a confidence boost than a hinderance.”

“Some of my rivals tried to put into my head that it’s my first Olympics and I should be nervous going in as what I was going in as (the world champion), but I knew exactly what I wanted and how to do it.”

After reflecting on his success at the Games he shared some of his insights, “The Olympic village can be a big distraction. Therefore, it’s important to remember why you’re there and not get swept up in the atmosphere until the job is done. There’s plenty of time to meet people and enjoy the village once you’ve finished competing.”

“Secondly, use the support staff around you such as media staff, physio, etc to manage your days whilst competing, and don’t be shy to ask for extra help if needed.”

“Lastly, enjoy it, and don’t get too hung up on performance.”

Moving forward his focus is a simple one, “In the long term, hopefully to maintain my performance level and improve my weak areas. But for the next upcoming months I just want to enjoy it and soak in the rewards of training and working hard over the last 8 years.”