Silver Olympic Medalist Adam Peaty Opens Up about His Faith after 100m Breaststroke

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Fans were heartbroken when Great Britain's Adam Peaty missed out on his third consecutive gold medal by two-hundredths of a second at the 2024 Paris Olympics. According to The Standard, the elated swimmer who beat him out on Sunday was Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi. Nevertheless, Peaty faced that deep disappointment with grace as he turned to congratulate Martinenghi while still in the pool. He later told BBC Sport, “I’m not gonna define my whole career in the terms of the ups and the downs by a medal. I’m just so happy to be among these incredible athletes, incredible performers.” 

On his Instagram, he wrote that swimming in the 2024 Paris Olympics was “a night full of raw emotion and sport in its true form. These last 14 months have been incredibly testing, and I do not regret one training session or decision I made. I’ve continued to fight and find new ways to enjoy something that has broken me to the core, and to end up with an Olympic silver through all of that is an absolute blessing. I’m more proud of the man and athlete I am from last night than I have been across my entire career.”

That is likely a very different mindset than he had before he became a Christian. Since he has accepted Christ into his life, he says it has helped him have victory in mental battles he has faced in the past.

“I spent most of my life validating, getting my gratification of life’s fulfillment from my results, and that led me to some dark moments,” he told BBC.

Since becoming a Christian, Peaty realized that life isn’t exclusive to “a quantifiable measure of results, results, results.” Rather, it’s truly about “How are the people around me? How am I, how is my son, how is my family?

He says he’s also found great meaning in attending church.

“I really didn’t have a community outside of sport. For me, the only fulfillment and the only peace is every Sunday at church. It gives me a nice balance.”

Peaty says he can now swim with “liberation and freedom” because he is less obsessed with success.

“Being an athlete is 365, 24/7. You will never have that normal aspect of life where you can do what you want.”

He says you have to count the cost and decide if you’re willing to pay the extreme price. He wrestles with the dichotomy of hating swimming but loving it at the same time on a regular basis.

“You have to get that balance right each day, each week, and for each championship.

“You have to recognize that, and if you go to the Olympics, you have to write a contract with yourself, and sign that contract, and know if you are going to pay the cost, is that cost going to be worth it? 

And will I be willing to pay that? I don’t want to live with the regret that I didn’t even try.”

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Maddie Meyer/Staff

Elizabeth Delaney has been a freelance content writer for over 20 years and has enjoyed having her prose published in both the non-fiction and fiction markets. She has written various types of content, including Christian articles, healthy lifestyle, blog posts, business topics, news articles, product descriptions, and some fiction. She is also a singer-songwriter-musician. When she is not busy with writing or music, she enjoys spending time with friends or family and doing fun social activities such as hiking, swing dancing, concerts, and other activities.