o Understand what makes Adam Petty The ticking required the clock to return to two moments, both when he was a teenager.
As a hot 15-year-old, when asked to wear flippers for training, he stood with his coach Mel Marshall by the pool.
“Put on your flippers,” someone told him countless times, and his counterattack was always the same, “I don’t know how to wear flippers.” Annoyed Marshall, “Adam, put on your flippers, or you will go out”. The strong-willed Pitti got out of the car and rushed home.
Soon after, Marshall’s mobile phone rang an answering phone message from her young person in charge. The message was short and concise: “Hi, Adam, I’m sorry, goodbye”. What is striking is that Marshall still saved the voice information, so this moment is crucial.
“I think his mother was holding his neck behind her back,” she recalled. “But the important thing is that, whether I am right or wrong, she supports me. She trusted me completely during his development, which has never wavered.”
Set the clock forward by two years, the disciplined Marshall is trying London 2012 Get the specific time for the 50-meter breaststroke from Peaty.
“He must leave the swimming pool before 7.30 in the morning so that his mother can drive him home and go to work on time,” she said. “I told him I didn’t care if we were still here until 3pm, just think of a way to finish it. Then he went somewhere deep in his heart, and we crossed the threshold that day. He cried, but he didn’t look back He just worked harder than the others.”
Piti, now 26, smiled at both memories. “My mother knew I was wrong and said you were going to call her. As a grumpy teenager, I was like’get out.’ I didn’t want to do this. But it was important. My mother told me, “This is Mei Your craftsmanship”, she trusts her 100%.
“Mel was right both times. The other moment was a huge turning point because I knew that Mel would try to kill me every day in training. Feeling sorry for yourself won’t let you go anywhere.”
Their relationship as athletes and coaches has been 12 years, and standing rowing is usually a thing of the past.
“It’s a pleasure to work with him,” she said. “I like his challenge-he pushes me, he asks very well. It’s incredible to find someone who is the best person, and better than anyone who has ever walked on this planet.”
Ominously for his opponent, the best breaststroke athlete on the planet has become better. Olympic As the 100-meter champion and world record holder, he insists that he is in the best state ever. “It’s not just that I’m talking about hype for the Olympic year.”
At the Rio Olympics five years ago, he made the world’s best swimmers look obviously average, winning Britain’s first gold medal at those Olympics—in fact, any other color medal.He can prove Britain’s first Olympic champion Tokyo Again it depends on the people who like road bikes and Jed Jones In the taekwondo fare.
“I have always liked leadership. It would be great if I could take this responsibility again,” he said. “When I wear the Union Jack and five rings, my reaction will be different. This is a very different race. The thing that inspires me is knowing that people are staying up late or watching me play anything. I don’t think much People will use it like I do.”
The level of expectations for Peaty is huge. He, his peers, his team, the wider British team and the British public all want him to be an Olympic champion. There are few (if any) greater British gold bankers.
“It would be a burden for many people, but it’s not like that for me,” he said. “When I think about people expecting me to win, they believe in me and it gives me strength. I am not playing alone, but with the millions behind me. When you have it, you feel overwhelming.”
Despite being a favorite label, the tension is obvious. Before the Rio finals, Piti was not afraid to admit that he was afraid and anxious in the call room, so it was the same when standing on the block. In Tokyo, he will feel the same way, and think that other male and female athletes who don’t say that are lying.
So at the moment before the start of the game, what happens in his mind? “Don’t be idiots, sneak in early,” he said. “That would be very annoying. I told myself a few words,’This is the moment you have been waiting for, the moment you were born, it’s time to release the beast’.
He has not forgotten that he has been planning the water for only 56 seconds for four years, but it’s not just him: “The livelihood of other people depends on my performance, but I like it. It’s like any job you have been in for many years, but There is less than a minute to prove myself. I like that.”
