5 Things you need to know about Adam Peaty, Sports Personality of the Year 2015 contender
With Sports Personality of the Year 2015 taking place on Sunday, it’s time we focused on Adam Peaty, the first male British swimmer to win three gold medals at single world championships.
It’s great to see another National Lottery funded athlete nominated for the SPOTY awards so here’s the 5 things you need to know about Adam;
1. He’s just as focused out of the pool
He goes to bed at 8.30pm every night, which makes sense considering he gets up at an eye-watering 4am.
He says:
“Instead of going hard at everything, you go hard at everything and smart as well. It’s not only what you do in the pool but it’s also the other 18 hours a day.
There’s no point going swimming, do a really hard set and then go to a party or whatever.”
Sounds simple enough but we admire the dedication necessary to keep focused 24/7!
“You do see your mates going out on the lash, having a good time, but I chose this life for a reason and I can’t really wait to get back in to training now.”
2. Water used to frighten him
We find this fascinating considering his notable recent achievements but when he was younger, Adam was terrified of water and used to scream with fear every time his mother put him in the bath!
His mum, Caroline, says; “He wouldn’t even go in the shower, he used to scream”.
Adam reveals;
“It’s the truth, I was absolutely terrified of it. I don’t know why. I’m a bit weird like that, but thankfully I did overcome my fear.”
Who would think now, 20 years on, Adam Peaty is a double world breaststroke champion and a Sports Personality of the Year contender?
3. He loves his Instagram followers
Instagram is renowned for being a predominantly health/fashion/fitness channel and although sports and fitness go hand in hand, not many athletes are making waves on the highly popular visual platform.
This is his most popular Instagram to date, with 6521 likes and 180 comments.
Adam says laughing;
“I’ve gone from 14,000 Instagram followers to just under 26,000 in a week. That’s quite a lot for a swimmer.”
He now has 32k followers. Follow him here: www.instagram.com/adam_peaty
4. He holds two World Records
In the image above, you see Adam exhausted and exhilarated, after securing his second world record in August, the 50m breaststroke record at the World Championships in Kazan.
His first world record was his 100m breaststroke at the Aquatics Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park during the finals of the 2015 British National Swimming? Championships.
We can only imagine how happy he would be to add Sports Personality of the Year winner to this list!
5. He’s obsessed with trainers
For someone who spends most of his time in a swimming pool wearing very little, you would think he doesn’t have a huge wardrobe or need a lot of clothing.
However, Adam is very much into his style and owns over 40 pairs of shoes -most of them trainers.
He explains;
“When you come out to race it’s the only part that’s different to everyone else so it’s just nice to have a little uniqueness and you can show off what you’ve got on your feet.”
Which of these did you already know? Let us know in the comments below!
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The National Lottery good causes team
