He was the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic swimming title, the maiden man to complete the 100m breaststroke in under 58 seconds, and then under 57 seconds, while in 2017 he also became the first in the history of the sport to go sub-26 secs in the 50m event.

Adam Peaty’s legendary status within the sport is therefore already cemented regardless of what he achieves in his final years while continuing to plough up and down the pool.

However, until relatively recently he thought those days may have already ended, with Paris 2024, the Briton’s third Games, a markedly different experience to Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

He was looking to become the first swimmer to win three successive Olympic 100m breaststroke titles, but the then 29-year-old placed second, 0.02secs behind Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi.

The following morning it was revealed he had been diagnosed with Covid-19, a cruel finale to the most challenging period of his career which had seen him battle back from a ‘self-destructive spiral’ and ‘problems with alcohol and depression’ to gold medal contender.

“I wasn’t going to come back at all after the Olympics,” Peaty admits to World Aquatics. “I was like ‘I’m done, take me to the burgers,’ I was literally done.”

After a period of reflection and a discussion with the sport’s greatest-ever champion, Michael Phelps, who initially retired after London 2012 before his iconic Rio 2016 comeback, he returned to the pool in January.

With his long-term coach, Mel Marshall, moving to Australia’s Gold Coast though, he was unsure whether it would ultimately lead towards a full tilt at the LA 2028 Games.

Time back in the water, in Repton, where he was based ahead of his first Olympic experience, gave him the chance to stay fit and provided the ‘option’ of a competitive comeback.

He describes the decision to include the 50m breaststroke event, together with the one-length splash and dash disciplines for backstroke and butterfly, as a ‘game-changer’.

“How crucial? (to his comeback decision), pretty crucial,” says the swimmer with a laugh.

“The 50m is always something I’ve gone for (at World Championships) as I’m a sprinter, but when you add that Olympic edge to things it means a bit more, especially in this country.

“That, together with a new coach and a new environment has given me a new lease as an athlete and I’ve got so much to look forward to over the next three years.”

The Path To The Paris Podium, But Games-time Regrets

After the extended five-year Olympic cycle between Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, which took place in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Peaty, like many of the sport’s leading athletes took a much-deserved post-Games break.

He returned, fuelled by a new mission to go, what was dubbed ‘three-Peat’, and win a third-successive Olympic 100m breaststroke title at the Paris 2024 Games.

Disaster struck early in his comeback bid though, with the swimmer suffering a broken foot during a gym training accident in March 2022, which ended his bid for further World Championships honours in June.

Peaty fought back for his ‘home’ Commonwealth Games in Birmingham which began at the end of the following month, but suffered what was still considered not only a shock loss, but result; ultimately placing of fourth in the 100m final.

He would return to win gold in the 50m event, for the first time in three attempts at Commonwealth Games – having placed second in 2014 and 2018 – but Peaty was far from happy and soon revealed he was suffering from “burn out and fatigue.”

He promised to return “strong than ever” after a “proper rest,” but that took longer than he anticipated and while he would claim 100m bronze at the 2022 World 25m Swimming Championships in Melbourne, much documented personal problems ultimately contributed to his decision to miss much of the 2023 season as well.

Peaty returned for the World Cup circuit later that year and showed some ‘encouraging’ signs of progress while claiming another third place at Doha 2024.

His time of 57.94 at the British Olympic trials three months later was still over a second off the world record (56.88) he set back in 2019, but it was the second quickest any athlete achieved during the Olympic qualification window, suggesting he was back to gold-medal-winning form.

In Paris, he was second quickest in the heats (59.18), before recording the fastest time in the semi-finals (58.86), but 24 hours on, 59.05 would see him place second behind Martinenghi.

“There is that person inside of me, and I was swearing in my head, like, 'Why? Why did I let that happen under certain circumstances and certain decisions and why did I just accept them and did that lead me to (catching) Covid?'” he reveals.

“There's no point really answering any of those, because that is what it is, and that's the card I was dealt, but that also means I've got a lot of experience now.

Peaty continues; “I've had two incredible Olympic Games and I've had one very bad one, because one thing went wrong, because of the decisions made, but my experience is probably going to serve me very well over these next three years.”

Sacrificing Happiness For History?

In addition to his iconic medal successes, Peaty has also set or been part of GB relay teams that have achieved 14 world records during his career. As such, he will be remembered long after he concludes his career, but the swimmer admits the prospect of becoming the first-ever 50m breaststroke Olympic champion would be “pretty cool.”

It may be nearing six years since he set the last of his individual long course World records in the 100m breaststroke and eight since his landmark 50m time of 25.95 secs at Gwangju 2017, but Peaty feels with the right application he could target the latter.

“I did it (broke the world record) twice in a day didn’t I?” he recalls with pride. “26.06 in the heats and then 25.95 in the semi-final and that was with a horrendous dive as well.

“I think 25.7 (is possible), if you really had the ability and the approach to that similar body shape, power, endurance and I've just got to make sure I'm in that shape now by first laying out a pathway to get back down to 26 (secs) and then start to look at how we get to 25.”

Peaty admits that task is “much harder” now he has not only added years, but also responsibilities to contend with, including a four-year-old son George.

“I have this incredible team around me, Aquatics GB, AP Race and all my family and my friends, but ultimately when you swim in that lane it’s just me and so it’s a lonely place to train, so I have to put myself first,” he says.

“The rest of your life makes things more complicated and I’m getting married and probably having more kids, but this is a very serious approach now because there are two Olympic individual medals at stake, instead of one.

Peaty continues; “I think you can't have them all though (happiness, world records and gold medals) and I think that if you're gonna go for world records, especially my world records, that I knew how hard they were, you won't have happiness, you won't have balance.

“Can it be done with a little bit? Of course, but it's going to require an incredible commitment, incredible discipline, and there's going to be a lot of competition on the way. Who want to take it away from me as well.”

Sprints Will Transform Swimming And Extend Careers

The vast majority of those within the swimming community have welcomed the addition of the new 50m medal events, adding to the 50m freestyle which has been a continual presence in the Olympics since 1988.

20-time World champion Sarah Sjostrom hailed the development as the “best news ever for the swimming world,” while reigning 50m butterfly world record holder Andrii Govorov said it, 9 April, was the day “everything changed.”

Peaty too was among those to post their support, saying the additional events were the “best result” for his “incredible sport,” thanking World Aquatics for assisting the “amazing” decision.

In his interview with World Aquatics, at the London Aquatics Centre just over a week after the announcement, he had more thoughts to add, stating it would improve the visibility of swimming and the longevity of careers.

“From a personal point of view and this is just my opinion, sprints are some of my favourite events to watch, because one mistake and you are out,” he states.

“Yes, sprinting is short and that event is going to be less than, 25-26 seconds, but at the same time with that it just builds so much excitement and so much anticipation.

“Then there are the stories of the incredible athletes, like the difference between a 19-year-old and a 39-year-old going for the same medal in the same event.

“I think it's just going to be an incredible growth opportunity; it's also going to give a lot of athletes a lot more time in the sport and for myself, I could go for the 50m breaststroke for a very long time.”

Just How Long Is A ‘Long Time’ For Peaty?

The 2032 Olympics will be held in Brisbane and with Peaty also known to be a fan of Australia, having regularly based himself in the country during winter training throughout his career, could he now continue even beyond the next Games?

“That (Brisbane) was way out before this decision,” he says. “I was like, ‘definitely LA would be the hard stop’, but now, in theory, I could go to 2032, if I wanted to.”

Peaty’s Olympic medal-winning performance in Paris had given him ‘pre-qualified’ status for Singapore 2025, under the Aquatics GB selection criteria, but the swimmer himself has decided against taking up that offer, insisting he would want to “earn” his place.

Having only returned to the pool at the beginning of the year the event will come too soon in his comeback bid, with the swimmer adamant he does not want “to put a rubbish version, or a ‘lesser-self’ on that stage” later this year.

The World Cup events later in the year may be an option for the now 30-year-old, but the 2026 European Championships in Paris and 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow are his most likely major competitive targets for the next 18 months.

“We (new coach Jamie Main and himself) need to put my road map up and remind ourselves every day what is on the line,” says Peaty.

“There are always new ideas and new ways to train, to learn and I don’t want any regrets along the way.”