From A Child Afraid of Water To ‘Prince of the Pool’ ; Journey Of Adam Peaty
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A child afraid of water in the childhood to winning gold for his country and breaking world record at the Olympics looks like a fairy tale story. But it is true and this dream is lived by British swimmer Adam Peaty.
Adam Peaty 21 became the first British to win gold in the pool since Adrian Moorhouse won the same event 28 years ago after he broke His 100 metres breaststroke time of 57.13 seconds smashed the world record he set in yesterday’s heats.
Afraid to enter the pool :
As his family says he was very afraid of entering water on arriving at the side of the pool for his first session, he let out a loud yell before jumping into his mother’s arms. He had hydrophobia, after finally overcoming his hydrophobia, he was still swimming – aged 14 – in the ‘slow lane’ of his local club with ten-year-old girls.
Family support:
Adam’s family supported him in every possible way, and surprisingly Until flying to Rio last week, his family had never been on a plane. The furthest they had ventured was Sheffield and too ,to watch their son compete. Adam’s Mum Caroline is a nursery manager, while dad Mark is caretaker at the Lidl down the road. The biggest fan of Adam is none other than his grandmother Mavis . Indeed, when Adam first swam for Britain as a teenager, only Mavis was allowed to wash his GB kit because, as he has said
Dr. Dre fan:
Adam’s day begins with a 4.30 alarm, with a set of early morning clap press-ups, which involve lifting his entire body weight off the ground and clapping at the top of the bounce. The exercise builds explosive power in the upper body, targeting the muscles responsible for producing short bursts of speed. He trains six days a week and is always in bed by 8pm.Before races, Adam often listens to rap star Dr Dre and ‘grime’.‘It gets me aggressive,’ he says. ‘You need that aggression. Grime reminds me that swimming is very gladiatorial. I believe in that gladiatorial mind-set. I love it.’
Beautiful girlfriend:
Adam peaty has a beautiful girlfriend . They met 18 months ago through the City of Derby Swimming Club. she’s studying social science at Loughborough University, where Adam trains in the Olympic-sized pool and yes she was Once a highly promising breaststroke specialist.
Financial crises:
‘It was really hard getting up at 4am, taking him swimming for 5am, then coming home, dropping him off, having breakfast, getting ready for work, doing a full day’s work, then going training at night,’ his mum told the BBC.‘But it was hard going for Adam because he had school and all the exams but he stuck with it. He was the one who dragged me, not the other way round.
‘He never complained about getting up. If I wanted to stay in bed another hour, he’d say: “Come on mum, champions aren’t made in bed!”’
Getting ready early was not the only problem with Adam, money was also one major issue to handle. To support Adam their neighbours organised fund-raising barbecues and Christmas parties in the street, to pay for the petrol when he took part in national competitions.
The breakthrough:
The breakthrough came at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow two years ago. He stunned the sport by beating the then Olympic champion (South African Cameron van der Burgh) in the 100m breaststroke final.Then last summer, he won three world titles, making him the most successful British swimmer ever at a single World Championships, recording six of the ten fastest 100m breaststrokes in history.
Still a child by heart:
The 21 old world champion is still child by heart, as he says “Sometimes I still go round the house making weird noises and stuff, so in that aspect I haven’t grown up! “I still like to sit in a room and play games all day, so I’m a kid really.“But in some aspects, this sport forces you to mature”.“My maturity has come on year and year and hopefully I’m mature enough now to move on and achieve even better things.”
On winning and breaking the record he says ““Going down that last 50m, I was aware that I was in front, but not by that much.“I touched the wall, looked to my left and I was like ‘Where is everybody?’.“That swim for me was probably the best I’ve ever executed, the perfect race.“Me and my coach Mel, coming into this meet, thought the best possible race we could do is 57.3,So 57.1 is absolutely incredible. I couldn’t believe it when I touched that wall.To do that in an Olympic Games is everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”
Peaty will be back in the pool on Friday for the heats of the men’s 4x100m medley relay, with Britain in with a shout of another gold.
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