(Reuters) – Triple Olympic swimming champion Adam Peaty said he is not ready to make a decision about competing at the 2028 Los Angeles Games after the Briton was left frustrated by illness and some of the team’s decision-making in Paris.
Peaty missed out on a third straight 100 breaststroke title by 0.02 seconds at La Defense Arena.
The 29-year-old had been bidding to join Michael Phelps as the second male swimmer to win the same Olympic individual swimming event three times but, struggling to recover from COVID-19, he lost out to Italian Nicolo Martinenghi.
Though rating Paris as a “great Games” personally, Peaty told The Times he was also left with a feeling of frustration by the illness and with some of the decisions made by British team management.
“There is still a lot of hurt there because of certain things and, because of the illness, and because of some decisions that were made by the team that I don’t think were in the best interest of the athletes,” said Peaty.
“And so there is a bit of anger.”
Peaty did not elaborate on his misgivings with team management but said there conversations to be had in private.
“Anger is good, if it’s anger with purpose and it makes sure that my voice is heard. Britain can obviously grow from that experience (in Paris),” he added.
Peaty, who will be 33 when Los Angeles hosts the Games, said he might take another six months or a year’s rest before being ready to commit to another gruelling Olympic training programme.
The possibility of the 50 breaststroke being added to the Olympics might help sway him toward LA given the lower training load required for success compared to the 100.
World Aquatics has asked for the 50 breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke events to be added to the schedule for 2028.
Peaty is the world record holder in both the 50 and 100 events.
“You can train a lot smarter for the pure sprint and it won’t take as much energy to do that,” said Peaty.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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