Adam Peaty targets rare ‘three-peat’ as his priorities change for Paris Olympics

Adam Peaty says he has reset his priorities as an athlete following the mental health issues that caused him to take a break from swimming, but has warned his Olympic rivals that “it’s always about the three-peat” as he begins to count down to Paris.

This year, the 100m breaststroke world record holder revealed he had been “on a self-destructive spiral” that had led him to question his love for the sport. But Peaty says he is now “a lot happier” having adapted his approach beyond a mentality that focussed only on increasing the success he could deliver in the pool.

“I do it for more reasons now,” Peaty said. “I do it for the memories, I do it for the family and pride. I do it for way more than just turning up and swimming a race, really. It’s not like I’m on a retreat and just doing it for the love of it. It’s always about the medals. It’s always about the three-peat. But while the medal is the material you get at the end of it, the journey you go on is the thing you’ll remember.”

Peaty says he had become too focussed on continual improvement, on making the small changes that could help him shave even more time off a world record he has already broken on 20 occasions.

“I think it’s why I got a little caught up with myself”, he told the Guardian at an event in his role as an ambassador for Bridgestone. “I was trying to look at too many things when really the most important thing is training and the racing and making sure you do them both to the best of your ability. I over-estimated how much I really need to do. You just need to keep it simple. Do what you love, do it to the best of your ability every single day, follow the process, and hopefully the results will come.

“If something you love becomes something you hate,