Three-time Olympic gold medal winning swimmer Adam Peaty believes next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will “be a great opportunity” to put himself back in the mix for another shot at Olympic glory.
Peaty took a break from the sport after winning a silver medal at last year’s Paris Olympics.
The 30-year-old Englishman is now eyeing the next one – in Los Angeles in 2028 – and says a good showing in Glasgow would be an important step on his journey towards Stateside success.
“It is a great opportunity, but I am not thinking about a time, I am not even thinking about winning,” said Peaty, who won double gold at Glasgow 2014.
“I just want to see what happens on the day because there is that famous quote of you don’t win an Olympics every four years, you win it every single day up to that four years.
“It is exactly the same with Glasgow, but it would be a great opportunity to put my name back in the hat.”
Peaty did not compete this month at the World Championships in Singapore, where a youthful Great Britain team returned with just two medals in the swimming and only one gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle.
But, speaking to My Newspaper Scotland at a coaching clinic in Aberdeen, he said judgements should not be made on that apparently low medal return.
“They have got a lot of new people on the team and, like with any younger team, there is space to grow,” he added.
“In terms of medals alone, people will say ‘that is not enough’ for the investment, but it is a long process and you can’t expect to have a new, younger team and still win lots of medals, especially after Paris.
“Normally, two years out from an Olympics is where you can get an inkling of what is happening, but it’s all about making sure there is no complacency.
“As soon as we get complacent, we lose those results and we get defeated.”
