Home is where the heart is for Staffordshire's Adam Peaty

Birmingham 2022 is very much a homecoming for Staffordshire’s three-time Olympic champion, so perhaps it is no wonder the prospect of competing at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre has him struggling to find words appropriate for print.

“How excited am I?” smiles Peaty. “Well, I would swear. But I can’t. Honestly, I can’t wait.

“I’m a Uttoxeter lad, I live in the Midlands and I’ll probably die in the Midlands. This is as close to home as it is ever going to get for me.”

The Commonwealth Games will also represent Peaty’s first major championship in front of a capacity crowd since the outbreak of the pandemic and there is a sense, as he continues to speak, this has been a long time coming for an athlete who has always revelled in the pressure of performing for an audience.

“Over the last two or three years everything has been taken away from us as athletes, in terms of the crowds, the roar and what makes us do what we do,” he explains.

“I like walking out there with my head up, embracing the crowd. When you take that away, it is weird. I didn’t like it. Is it true sport, performing without a crowd? I wouldn’t say so. That is part of the make-up of being an athlete.

“There is a big difference between performing in front of 10,000 people, to in front of no-one. Some athletes are going to find it easier without the crowd. I really feel true athletes do it in front of anyone, in front of any crowd and you embrace that crowd. I can’t wait to see all those flags flying.”

Crowds aren’t the only thing Peaty has missed in recent months. A broken foot sustained while training in early May, the first significant injury of his career, forced him to miss the world championships, his dominance in the 50 and 100 metre breaststroke ended by default.

Watching while others claimed his title was, Peaty admits, a painful experience made no easier by the fact he was helpless to do anything about it. Yet rather than focus on the negative, Peaty instead used the setback as a chance to reset, his rehab a chance to reflect on a glorious past and a future he hopes will be just as successful.

Though at the age of 27 he is now a senior member of the England squad, Peaty has no intention of calling it a day any time soon, his sights already fixed firmly on Paris 2024 and then LA 2028.

First comes Birmingham, his first step on the road to the next Olympics. Being recovered in time for the Games was far from guaranteed, his participation not finally confirmed until a few days ago. But while preparation might have been far from perfect, Peaty cuts a relaxed and refreshed figure.

“Am I in a good place? I think it is a fair assessment,” he says. “When you spend 100s of hours on an exercise bike with a broken foot, it makes you think about what you want out of the sport and what you are doing.

“I was out of the water for six weeks, pretty much. I only started doing breaststroke three weeks ago. It has been a very different approach but I have loved every second. It is what has made me feel fresher. It is like any job. You find the joy in it and you find the stimulus you are going to be happy and feel less weight.

“I haven’t had the smoothest ride and it felt something has been taken away from me. I saw my world title taken away without having any control over that and it has given me a new lease of life, a hunger I thought was missing.”

In addition to an exercise bike, Peaty has also spent time in a canoe building his fitness. Unorthodox it might have been but the sessions with British Canoeing coaches provided a welcome mental break from the daily grind.

“You could argue I could maybe have used my time more wisely,” he says. “But it was important for my health and mental well-being to try something new and be in a completely different environment.

“British Canoeing accepted me. They laughed at me a few times as well, but that is what sport is about, coming together and helping each other out. Swimming is very traditional in its training. You need to put the metres in, you need to do 10km a day and do this.

“I’m like: ‘No’. You look at other sports and how they adapt and how they overcome obstacles. Other athletes who have had injuries, they completely go away from it and they come back stronger and faster. I’ve found a way.”

Just how strong and fast Peaty will be in Birmingham is a question which will only be answered when he first dives into the Sandwell pool in the 100 metre breaststroke heats on Saturday morning. Pedigree alone ensures Peaty will be among the favourites and guarantees the expectation. Experience means he does not fear that.

“The preparation is going the best it can but it is like roulette, you never know till the day,” he says.

“It is like that with every championships. You just have to go through the rounds. There may be a few cobwebs but I will try to avoid them.

“Part of my success, I think, is I treat every single race as one I haven’t won. Nothing is ever given. With that mindset now I am very focused on what I need to do.

“These past few months I have adapted, learned and overcome. I could not have worked harder. I couldn’t have put more into my preparation than I have put in.

“Now it is about a home crowd in Birmingham. Let’s have it!”