Paris Olympic Games: Nile Wilson, Jo Rowsell on Adam Peaty's ‘troubles’ ahead of three-peat bid - ‘We walk a tightrope’

Adam Peaty has struggled with mental health issues since he defended his Olympic title at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, but he has been tipped to become "stronger for the rest of his life" after the latest Olympic cycle. The Brit will look to win a third successive gold in Paris, and Olympic medalists Nile Wilson and Jo Rowsell have discussed what it takes mentally to compete at the highest level.

'We walk a tightrope' - Wilson and Rowsell on Peaty and mental health as an athlete

Video credit: TNT Sports

Eurosport experts Nile Wilson and Jo Rowsell have discussed the mental aspects of being an elite athlete as Adam Peaty prepares to defend his title at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Peaty became the first British swimmer in history to win back-to-back gold medals in the same discipline – the 100m breaststroke – when he defended the gold medal he won at the 2016 Rio Games in Tokyo three years ago.

In 2023, Peaty took a break from swimming after struggling with mental health troubles and later revealed he had been diagnosed with depression.

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Ahead of his attempts to win three successive gold medals at the Paris Games, gymnast Wilson said the “intense” lifestyle of being an athlete can be detrimental and can “come at a cost”.

“If you’re naive enough to think, where you’ve had these battles and challenges that it’s an on-and-off switch, that’s a dangerous place to be,” Wilson, a bronze medallist at the Rio Games, told Eurosport.

“As professional athletes, we walk a tightrope and the lifestyle we lead is very, very intense. He talked about that split personality and finding that balance. I’ve always found it to be impossible but that’s okay.

“Adam’s a father now and it sounds like he’s starting to define himself as a human being and not an Olympic champion, the superhero that everyone paints the picture of him to be.

“He seems like he’s faced and accepted some of his troubles and come through those and now he’s just raring to go and be the athlete this week and give that intensity.

“We’re very, very selfish in the way we live our lives, we have to be in order to achieve greatness, and sometimes that comes at a cost.”

Peaty recently said that his mindset was to “attack” his title in Paris rather than defend it, and former cyclist Rowsell outlined the added pressures of being a reigning champion.

“It’s hard, people always assume that you go to one Olympics and win gold and that’s the hard one. And surely if you come back again that will be fine,” the two-time Olympic champion revealed.

“Definitely in my career, defending a title was so much harder. There are so many more demands on your time, everyone wants a piece of you, everybody’s out to beat you. For a start, your competitors, but then there is so much more of a spotlight on you.

“My reflection from my career is the races that I’ve won, that often might have been the smaller races or perhaps the races which I’ve not won but got a medal, but it’s after a big setback or after a low point, they’re the ones that have meant more.”

Peaty believes he has “been given a gift” to be able to train relentlessly in preparation for the Games and put himself "in extreme pain for a very long time", a method which he enjoys.

Adam Peaty, Olympic Games, Great Britain

Image credit: Getty Images

Rowsell admitted that she found Peaty's mindset “fascinating” and that his latest Olympic experience will “make him stronger for the rest of his life”.

“I think for him being here and enjoying that process – it’s so easy to say and so hard to do – I still think hopefully he can still see success in whatever the result is,” she added.

“Obviously, we all want him to win and it would be a fantastic story, but like Nile said, it’s not just an on-off thing, it’s a process and it’s lifelong.

“You’re going to be an Olympic champion for the rest of your life, he already is. Whatever happens here he is already an Olympic champion.

“It would be wonderful for him to get more, but whatever happens, this Olympic cycle will have made him stronger for the rest of his life.”

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