Adam Pitty finished his alcohol addiction and went back for a gold medal.

Adam Pitty has emerged twice as a gold medalist (Rio, Tokyo) and is the world’s recordman at both 50 and 100 metres anterior. During the period when his competitors were swimming to work out his unimaginable performance in the pool, he was down 57 seconds in the centenary (56.88). To date he remains dominant in his kind and one of the British’s firm hopes for another gold at the Olympic Games. When you’re younger, you say gold will solve so many problems. It does. On the other hand, it will not solve what I seek.” Taking his head out of the water and taking a very deep breath, the great British swimmer follows the exact opposite route. He dives deep into his soul and a few months before his 30s is repositioned into the world as a fresh version of himself.

Much more mature and aware of the mental needs he needs to meet, Adam Petey sets different priorities. He does not deny victory, and he probably does not envy it. He’d lie if he supported the opposite. “Obviously and I swim to win, to be the best”. It simply does not “suffer” anymore, nor does it “screw” the times it fails to first touch the blue tile at the end of the route.

He prefers for a long time to suck the challenge himself and not to devour it. “I am only thrilled that I will be in Paris”. Until 2021 Petey lived, as proved and admitted, a life he did not enjoy to the extent he would want. One of the tattoos on his left hand arm depicts the five Olympic circles. Below is the word “equilibrium” engraved. Translated as a balance. Petey once said that “all the areas of your life must be equal to pay the best you can”. He thought this was what he was experiencing, that he had secured it. Adopting a very painful daily routine (colymps, weights, 6,000 calories, etc.) and having his family on his side, he felt he had enough. He was 21 years old but, as a friend confessed, “he doesn’t go to parties, he doesn’t drink, he’s been in bed since 22:00. Every little thing is controlled.” Petey was clearly fooled. It was balanced, but on a stretched rope. Acrobat above absolute gap.

The previous three years were years of painful testing. Adam’s own who by his age four (born December 28, 1994) hated water and screamed sparingly before Caroline’s mother put him in the tub to wash him. His separation in 2021 by Aery Manro, his partner for four years and mother of their three-year-old son, was a strong blow to his fragile psychosynthesis. It was combined with a fracture in the leg that left him out of the pool and “dissolved him” internally. Arial, sans-serif? font-size: 14px; line-high: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: information?”> A post shared by Adam Peaty OBE (@adam_peaty)

The total collapse was a few, black, thoughts. The version of early withdrawal from action was constantly gaining ground. In a practice, in February 2023, he did not last. “I started in the water and my glasses filled tears. I cried while I was swimming. I was broken. Remember how Bane breaks Batman’s back? That’s what I did to myself. I lost all sense of direction and purpose. I was thinking about what I’m doing here.” That day he quit training. It was the first time he didn’t complete his program. “I bathed and still cried. I told my coach I didn’t want to do this anymore, it wasn’t worth it. I went to a store, bought a lot of chocolate and ate it. I had lost all discipline, confidence and purpose. I was not willing to pay that cost anymore.” The cracks were wide open. Alcohol became his permanent companion. Squeeze and quit. He became highly addicted, there was no day not to drink. “I tried to drink until I got numb and sleep so that when I woke up I could go back for alcohol. Everything was colorless. In my mind even the red flowers were gray.” “It was something”. I was constantly chasing” Olympic champion Adam Peaty tells #BBCBreakfast alcohol once controlled his life, before he sought help ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/EwkrcqTPSY

—BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) May 30, 2023

Adam Pitty had come out of the pool and found himself in a ring in an arena with various wild beasts. The struggle with bare hands was first and foremost against himself. He asked for medical help and started treatment, together he found a way out of the church. He restored order in him, began to love again the person he was facing in the mirror. His son was also a driving force. “When you have children and embrace them, you realize it’s something bigger than what can ever be offered to you.” Now he’s swimming for him too. Arial, sans-serif? font-size: 14px; line-high: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: information?”> A post shared by Adam Peaty OBE (@adam_peaty)

The answers he found to key questions activated the restart button. “In 2021, 2022 and before, if I touched the wall and didn’t have the result I wanted, I was disappointed. I thought it wasn’t worth living because I lost.” Because before the games he felt like a god, the obsession of victory had taken over him. The gross consumption of success was not enough. “It’s not something sustainable, it’s not a stop to keep”. The decay was gradual and carnivorous. Petey got to the bottom, but he didn’t give a damn. He held his breath and sank until the well – built 191 – centimeter body was completely lost in the abyss. Until a hand pulled him up and allowed him to breathe clean oxygen. He had a little left. He’s late, but he’s late. His new relationship with Holly Ramsey, daughter of award-winning chef Gordon Ramsey, helped greatly to rejoin a calm environment. Arial, sans-serif? font-size: 14px; line-high: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: information?”> A post shared by Adam Peaty OBE (@adam_peaty)

She owes a lot to Ashley Nool, a theologian who worked for the Great Britain Olympic team. “He brought a different perspective”. They went to church together, sat down some hours, made him realize that “it doesn’t matter what you gain or what you have accomplished, we must be grateful for what we have.” Psychiatrist Steve Peters also did a lot of work and Petey recognizes it whenever he talks about it. The route to the start is something huge to me” he would say when he had now conquered a first significant level of self-awareness, accepting every good and bad aspect of Adam. He understood he was not invulnerable, but one like everyone else. A little more wrinkled from now on, but at the same time relieved and light. The sun always rises the next morning no matter what happens. This is in no way defeatist. We must sail out there and withstand the waves, storms and hurricanes to reach the other side.” At least Adam. Pitty knew very good swimming and did not drown off when she was wrecked. Even if he was sick of being bathed in water when he was a big, big kid in his mother’s arms.