{"id":484400,"date":"2021-08-07T04:01:05","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T11:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=484400"},"modified":"2021-08-15T09:31:51","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T16:31:51","slug":"goal-oriented-crew-has-led-transformation-of-expectations-for-british-swimming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/goal-oriented-crew-has-led-transformation-of-expectations-for-british-swimming\/","title":{"rendered":"Goal-Oriented Crew Has Led Transformation of Expectations For British Swimming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Goal-Oriented Crew Has Led Transformation of Expectations For British Swimming<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the British men’s 4×100 medley relay won silver in the final event of the pool program at the Olympic Games, it ensured Team GB<\/strong> left Tokyo with a record Olympic haul of eight medals and third in the medal table.<\/p>\n

There were four golds, three silvers and one bronze. One world record. A one-two. And Duncan Scott<\/strong> became the most decorated British Olympian in any sport at a single Games with four medals.<\/p>\n

However, the air hung heavy with the word “disappointed” and that after a European record of 3:27.51 as the United States won in a world record 3:26.78.<\/p>\n

Adam Peaty<\/strong> said: “I’m a little disappointed with that because we set our expectations so high, the culture within British Swimming is (all about) striving.”<\/p>\n

Luke Greenbank<\/strong> – who led off the quartet – mused with a smile: “I can’t believe I’m saying this but we were a little bit disappointed with an Olympic silver medal which sounds ridiculous but it just shows how much faith we have in this team and I think we’re going to come back stronger.”<\/p>\n

James Guy<\/strong> too. “Getting this silver did hurt quite a bit – we did want the gold\u00a0 – but I think that hunger is still there now for three years’ time in Paris.”<\/p>\n

Peaty’s comments explain perfectly the attitude that runs through the team.<\/p>\n

Where once some would be happy to have booked their slot on the squad, now it is all about the podium and a constant quest for improvement.<\/p>\n

GB Roll-Call<\/h3>\n

GOLD<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Tom Dean (200 free)<\/p>\n

Adam Peaty (100 breaststroke)<\/p>\n

Men’s 4×200 freestyle (Dean, Guy, Richards, Scott)<\/p>\n

Mixed 4×100 medley relay (Dawson, Peaty, Guy, Hopkin\/Anderson)<\/p>\n

SILVER<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Duncan Scott (200 free & 200IM)<\/p>\n

Men’s 4×100 medley relay (Greenbank, Peaty\/Wilby, Guy, Scott)<\/p>\n

BRONZE<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Luke Greenbank (200 backstroke)<\/p>\n

It exceeded their haul of six at Rio 2016 although there Jazz Carlin<\/strong> and Siobhan O’Connor<\/strong> won three silver medals between them.<\/p>\n

In Tokyo, there were no individual medals for women with Abbie Wood<\/strong> the closest to the podium with fourth in the 200IM, locked out by 0.11.<\/p>\n

The women’s 4×100 free squad was fifth with Molly Renshaw<\/strong> and Kathleen Dawson<\/strong> sixth in the 200 breaststroke and 100 backstroke respectively.<\/p>\n

Anna Hopkin<\/strong> though broke the British 100 free record, lowering Fran Halsall<\/strong>‘s 2009 mark to 52.75 and was seventh in the final, thriving under the expertise of Mel Marshall at the Loughborough National Centre.<\/p>\n

Alongside Hopkin in those Loughborough waters are Peaty and Greenbank while Dave McNulty<\/strong> continued his fine Olympic record at the Bath National Centre.<\/p>\n

Dean – who led home Scott in the 200 free one-two – and Guy are training partners under McNulty with Calum Jarvis<\/strong> and Freya Anderson<\/strong> also receiving medals after swimming heats in their respective medal-winning relays.<\/p>\n

Scott – who won a gold and three silvers – is coached by Steven Tigg<\/strong> at Stirling.<\/p>\n

It’s a far cry from the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona when the team came away with one medal courtesy of Halsall in the 50 free.<\/p>\n

It’s untrue though to say the landscape into which head coach Bill Furniss and national performance director Chris Spice walked was barren.<\/p>\n

Guy made his senior debut with fifth in the 400 free in Barcelona with the team also featuring Tokyo swimmers Ben Proud, Ross Murdoch and Aimee Willmott.<\/p>\n

O’Connor and Carlin also competed as did 2012 silver medallist Michael Jamieson<\/strong> and Chris Walker-Hebbor<\/strong>n, who led off the medley relay to world titles and 2016 Olympic silver – all four at some point under the tutelage of McNulty.<\/p>\n

Renshaw had already made her GB debut at the 2011 World Championships while Hannah Miley<\/strong> had competed in two Olympics by that point with British stalwart Georgia Davies<\/strong> also in the Catalan city.<\/p>\n

It is fair to say though that the mentality has changed. The selection policies ensure it’s tough to get on to the team and once there the hard work is just starting.<\/p>\n

Eight years ago on 31 July 2013, Peaty went inside a minute for the 100 breaststroke for the first time after narrowly missing the team for Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Twelve months on and he won his first senior international title at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

“It has been a colossal journey,” he said. “I have broken a world record every single year since (my debut).<\/p>\n

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“It just shows the amount of time, the amount of races, the amount of investment you’ve got to put into the sport. It doesn’t come easy.”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
That winning mentality that saw him become the first British swimmer to retain an Olympic title came to the fore when talking of the medley relay.<\/div>\n
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“We knew we could probably get silver with great racing – we did that, we did great races – but we are always aiming for gold so we are not just looking to make finals like we were eight, 10 years ago – we are looking at how we can dominate those finals.<\/div>\n
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“So we’ll go back to the drawing board – it’s a little bit painful that is – but theres no point in having that pain now, we are going to put it to rest.”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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