Adam Peaty and the Elusive History He’s Chasing — The Three-Peat

Adam Peaty of Great Britain prepares to compete in the 100m Breaststroke Men Semifinal during the FINA Swimming Short Course World Championships at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Melbourne, Australia, December 14th, 2022. Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Adam Peaty -- Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Adam Peaty and the Elusive History He’s Chasing — The Three-Peat

No accomplishment in men’s swimming has been as tough to achieve as winning Olympic gold in the same event at three consecutive Games. Russia’s Vladimir Salnikov might have done so in the 1500 freestyle, with gold medals in both 1980 and 1988, but Russia’s boycott The first legitimate attempt at the three-peat in the 21st century came at the 2000 Olympics with Australia’s Kieran Perkins, also in the mile, but his young countryman Grant Hackett went out fast to steal away the gold.

Hackett would then spend nearly a decade at the forefront of men’s distance swimming, with another Olympic gold in 2004, a then-record four world titles and a world record of 14:34.56 that would last a decade. Hackett struggled in 2007 but built his way back to form in time for the 2008 Olympics, swimming the second-best time of his career in prelims. Had Hackett repeated that time 36 hours later in the final, he would have picked up the three-peat, but on this occasion, he could not run down Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli.

Finally, a man would go back-to-back-to-back at the 2012 Games but only after a whopping three missed attempts over the first half of that competition. Michael Phelps fell to fourth in the 400 IM before Kosuke Kitajima was fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Phelps had another chance in the 200 butterfly, and he led that race for nearly the entire final before Phelps had a long finish, allowing South Africa’s Chad le Clos to reach for the fall on the final stroke and steal away gold.

That is the history that Great Britain’s Adam Peaty is chasing when he races the 100 breast at this summer’s Paris Games, trying to come through against young, talented competition in a race that will surely be his toughest of his Olympic finals. In both Rio and Tokyo, Peaty sat far ahead of his competition in the 100 breast, as the only man to ever break 58 until the Netherlands’ Arno Kamminga joined him in early 2021.

Now, on the other hand, Peaty is 29 years old, and there is the veteran trio of Kamminga, Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy and Nic Fink of the U.S. plus the man who stormed to a world-title sweep of the breaststroke events, China’s Qin Haiyang. Qin clocked 57.69 twice last year, first in his dominant win at the World Championships and then at a World Cup meet later in the fall. Peaty, meanwhile, did not break 58 for more than two-and-a-half years between his gold-medal swim in Tokyo before his impressive win at last month’s British Championships, when he clocked 57.94.

If Peaty can repeat that time when he crosses the English Channel in July to race in Paris, he will be nearly assured a spot on the podium, but a swifter effort will be required to return to the top step with Qin likely to be in form. Three women have pulled off the accomplishment in the past: Australia’s Dawn Fraser in the 100 freestyle (1956, 1960 and 1964), Hungary’s Krisztina Egerszegi in the 200 backstroke (1988, 1992 and 1996) and the United States’ Katie Ledecky in the 800 free (2012, 2016 and 2021).

Michael Phelps is the only male swimmer to three-peat at the Olympics… so far — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The only man to do so was Phelps, who was fortunate to have four total chances at the three-peat in 2012, and after coming up short in the 400 IM and 200 fly, his next two attempts would be successful. Ryan Lochte was in the middle of a run of four world titles in the 200 IM, but Lochte was attempting to win the 200 IM just minutes after racing in the 200 back final. Lochte’s fatigue surely helped Phelps finally break the curse and earn consecutive gold medal No. 3, and in the moments after he finished, Phelps held up three fingers, a subtle nod to his historic triumph.

One day later, Phelps came through again in the 100 fly, and when he returned for another Olympic appearance in Rio, he became the only swimmer of either gender to make it four consecutive golds as he dominated the 200 IM. Phelps also picked up a redemptive win in the 200 fly for a third gold medal in that event, albeit nonconsecutive golds.

Now, we come to Peaty, already firmly established as an all-time great in the sport, a clear-cut future Hall-of-Fame swimmer. But Perkins, Hackett and Kitajima were no less stellar at their respective peaks, but none could hang on long enough to get a third gold medal. Plenty of other swimmers won two but did not make it back to the Olympic level for a third chance.

Now, we are months away from finding out if Peaty can pull off the daunting task. The swimming world has learned, however, to never count out this pioneering British breaststroker.

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