Adam Peaty, one of the best swimmers in the world, has been banned from swimming โ by his Strictly dance partner!
The triple Olympic gold medallist has temporarily changed his focus from the pool to the Strictly Come Dancing dance floor โ and says his dance partner, Katya Jones, wonโt let him swim at the moment.
โIโm not swimming at all, not just yet โ Katya wonโt let me swim,โ Peaty reveals. โI just have to do training and dancing all the time. But by the end of October, Iโm probably going to have to swim, obviously Iโve got future championships that I want to win, and I want to get a balance.
โI do miss the swimming now and then, if I canโt get a dance move right. I miss the swimming because Iโm good at it โ but I also love dancing,โ he admits.
Peaty, 26, made history at this summerโs Tokyo Olympics when he became the first British swimmer to retain an Olympic title, in the 100m breaststroke. And heโs now โ albeit temporarily โ transferred the single-mindedness and dedication needed to become an Olympic great to mastering his fancy footwork.
โThereโs a lot of training for Strictly โ itโs pretty much every day โ and a lot of hours spent around the show as well, with filming and interviews,โ he says. โItโs very demanding, but itโs going to be โ itโs dancing, people do this for 25-30 years of their life, and to try and get up to speed with that, you have to put in the hours. But Iโm having fun.โ
Although itโs early days for the series when we speak, it seems putting his heart and soul into dancing may pay off โ with his first dance on Strictly, he โeffortlesslyโ secured an impressive score, with the judges describing his and Jonesโs performance as โamazingโ and โincredibleโ.
So, how does this phenomenal swimmer and now snake-hipped dancer, who is also a dad to one-year-old son George with girlfriend Eirianedd Munro, find the energy?
โMy diet is very, very wide, because I have to get so much food in. I try to keep it balanced, but also quite new โ itโs all about protein for me, and I love soya yoghurt and custard,โ says Peaty, whose high-octane career needs serious fuel.
A few years ago, Peaty tried going completely vegan but says he eventually abandoned the idea because he lost muscle mass. The motivations behind the move are still important to him though, and he says heโs โnot fully vegan or fully vegetarian but I try and implement them into my lifeโ, and doesnโt rule out trying an entirely plant-based diet again at some point.
โI might try veganism again in the future โ from an environmental aspect, 100%. We all need to wake up and play our part in terms of our environmental input. I used to eat red meat up to three times a week, but now I eat it rarely, maybe once every three or four weeks. I think our diets will naturally shift to that.
โI think people get it wrong, where they have to be vegan and thatโs it. Itโs all about balance, and thatโs what I got wrong when I didnโt eat any meat. If we all reduced our intake of meat, which is responsible for huge carbon emissions, and started to take up a diet thatโs more healthy for ourselves and the planet, I think weโd enjoy it a lot more.โ
Thatโs balance with diet sorted, but what about finding balance between work and play. How does he like to relax?
โDancing, at the moment,โ he says, laughing. โDancing is my relaxation and my work. To be honest, I relax through music โ Iโve always loved music and engage with it to manipulate my energy and understand life a little bit more โ and films, if I get the chance to watch one. But I usually get in most days at 9pm so I donโt have any chance to relax, and Iโm always away.โ
He says he grabs โlittle snippets of the dayโ, like his lunchbreaks, to switch off a bit. โYou never know what tomorrowโs going to bring, so I try and make the most of today,โ Peaty reflects. โFree time is a scarce resource in my life, and itโs gone even more scarce now. All my energy is going into my work โ my dancing. Itโs difficult, very difficult, especially when youโve got a young boy โ but thatโs what I have to do,โ he admits.
โIโm not really getting much time to see my son. Itโs hard being a dad, but obviously the most rewarding and brilliant thing that Iโve ever done. I make decisions now based on how heโs going to perceive it โ what matters in the long-term for him. Itโs less self and more him.โ
Peaty says heโs looking forward to George, who was only 10 months old during Tokyo, being able to watch him swim at the Paris Olympics in 2024 โ and even the LA Olympics in 2028, depending on how well he swims in Paris and how he progresses thereafter.
โAs I live, I leave a legacy โ whether thatโs good or bad is about perspective โ and I want to make sure that my decisions are the right ones,โ stresses the proud dad. โIโll make mistakes, of course I will, but I will also hopefully make plenty of good choices.โ
Will those choices include supporting his son if he wants to be a swimmer like his daddy? Peaty says heโd be happy if George wanted to be a swimmer, but admits: โItโd be hard, itโs a very hard sport. Iโd let him try lots of sports, but if he really wanted to do swimming then Iโd support that wholly, definitely.โ
He says itโs โa givenโ that he wants to set a good example for his child, and when itโs pointed out that surely heโs already done that, he refers to his next dance on Strictly and says, wryly: โWeโll wait and see on Saturday, shall we?โ