‘I’m a fighter’: Peaty gives ‘heart and soul’ to win 50m breaststroke gold

He thumped his chest, punched the water, and blew kisses to the crowd. And then, as he revelled in the sweetest of redemptions, Adam Peaty gave a smile that could have lit up the Sandwell Aquatics Centre by itself.

On Sunday Peaty had suffered his first 100m breastroke defeat since 2014. On Monday he was accused of disrespecting the Commonwealth Games and was submerged in a funk of gloom. But on Tuesday, over an extraordinary 50 metres suffused in heart and grit, he rose again.

And how. Peaty might have been a little slowly away but he had powered ahead by halfway. And while sharks still lurked all around him, he fended them off like a champion to win in 26.76 sec. Australia’s Sam Williamson took silver, 0.21 back, while Scotland’s Ross Murdoch claimed bronze.

“After the 100m I was at the lowest of the low,” Peaty said. “I had something which was almost guaranteed taken away from me. I took it for granted. I said to Ross that I didn’t want to do the 50m and he said I’d regret it for the rest of my life. Today was the emotion and rawness – that’s what you saw.”

Asked to describe the race, Peaty was blunt. “I didn’t know what I was doing,” he said. “I just went down with my heart and soul. It’s been a very tough Games. A very hard Games. But you know what? I’m a fighter. I thought: I’m not going to let anyone else come and take it. They are going to have to work hard for it.”

This victory was made all the sweeter by the fact that it completed the set of major titles. However receiving his medal, Peaty walked over to his coach and mentor Mel Marshall and put it around her neck.

“I’ve completed the whole collection now,” he said. “It is a sweet victory for me. Mel said this morning: ‘Today you wake up and you play’.“I