ADAM PEATY revealed winning gold in Rio has left him a recluse.
The Olympic swimming champion swapped friends and family in home town Uttoxeter to be closer to his training base in Loughborough.
And Peaty, 21, admits the emotional move — out of the family home for the first time — is designed to give him the best shot of retaining his 100 metres breaststroke title at Tokyo 2020.
He said: “My life’s changed. I’ve moved house to be near Loughborough to accommodate my training because I was still living at home.
“It was hard balancing the lifestyle because people would come round and say, ‘Well done’, which is nice, but I perform best when I’m alone.
“I’ve got my own thoughts, own focus, so I had to move. I have to knuckle down.
“I’d lived in Uttoxeter all my life. I was born in the same house I’ve just left. But these are the sacrifices you have to make.
“I do miss home but you have to do what’s best for you.
“I don’t have days off, even on a Sunday. You can’t go in the pub all day or go out all day. It’s a full-time job.
“The lifestyle is just as important as the swimming.”
Peaty started the Team GB gold rush when he became the first British male to win in the pool for 28 years.
The gong kicked off a record haul of 67 GB medals — and he also won a silver in the 4x100m medley relay.
But that is nowhere near enough for the patriotic Brit.
Peaty, who resumes his training in November, added: “There’s no better feeling than winning gold.
“When I saw the first medal hadn’t been won by the road cyclists I thought, ‘This is it. Let’s bring one back tomorrow’.
“I was lucky to be one of the first events. I didn’t put pressure on myself. I’m a patriotic person — probably on a par with Justin Rose, who just loves it.
“Team GB has so much history and background and we should be proud of it. But it was great to get the first gold, and the first in South America, to kick it off.
“It had a positive effect on the rest of the team because we won more medals than even in our home games.
“But now I want to create a legacy. I’ve won one Olympic gold — but I don’t think any British swimmer has defended a title.
“That kind of challenge motivates me now. It’s an opportunity for me to create something special. That’s the next goal.”
Peaty met me at Duxford airfield on the outskirts of Cambridge.
His childhood dream was to be a fighter pilot but he was too big and tall.
Now the 6ft 3in, 13st 5lb ace — who sped to gold in 57.13sec, smashing his own world record from the semi-final — wants to go even quicker.
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Peaty said: “I’ve always been interested in speed. I wanted to be a pilot as a kid.
“When it was home clothes day at school I’d always go in wearing pilot gear and having my metal water bottle. I managed to get in the cockpit flying back from Rio.
“There’s a lot of education and hard work that goes into being a pilot but I’ve transferred that into swimming and being the best I can be.
“I’m obsessed by self- improvement. Your life can change in milliseconds.
“There are plenty of areas where I can improve.
“There’s probably another half a second I can take off in my swim. Hopefully we can achieve that.”
l ADAM PEATY is supporting Sun-Pat’s Fuel Your Dreams campaign. Sun-Pat will be making two lucky winners’ dreams come true. For more info go to www.sunpat.co.uk/fuelyourdreams.
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