There have been many versions of Adam Peaty during a decade lived in a very public gaze. Whether this is Peaty 3.0 or 4.
0 is up for debate, but there is no doubt he's a very different man from 2021. The big question is..
. is he a very different swimmer? In the days before Tokyo, where he defended his 100m breaststroke title, Peaty was wound up like a prize-fighter. He talked big and brash - and almost as fast as he swam.
READ MORE: Stoke City's dream transfer window READ MORE: Three lingering questions for Steven Schumacher to find answers Three years on, though still only 29, Peaty landed in Paris a little more reflective and a little humbler. The competitive fire still burns bright, but perhaps without the white heat intensity of previous Olympic campaigns. Nevertheless, it is the Uttoxeter-born star who is once again setting the standards after qualifying for Sunday's 100m breaststroke final with the fastest time in the field.
"I've a different relationship with a gold medal now; I know it won't solve any of the problems that I want it to," he said. "When you are younger, you think it will, but I know now it doesn't. Obviously, I do this to win; I want to be the best, but the thing that excites me now is the challenge.
I'm an older athlete, and I think more about my relationship with winning. "Is it defined by time or something else? I've got peace about this. You only get one chance to get it right, but I'm sure I can do it again.
The loudest man in the room is the weakes.