Team GB star Adam Peaty has revealed he will take a two-year break from competing – but has not ruled out a return to the Olympics in four years times at Los Angeles 2028.
Peaty battled back from injury and mental health struggles to compete at the Paris Olympics this summer as he looked to defend the 100m breaststroke gold he won in Rio and Tokyo.
But the 29-year-old, vying to become the first swimmer since Michael Phelps to win three consecutive golds in the same event, was forced to settle for silver as he lost out to Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi by an unbelievably narrow margin of 0.02 seconds.
Fresh off the heartbreak in Paris, Peaty has now been forced to consider his Olympic future, with four years until the next Games in Los Angeles.
But the Brit is not ready to make that decision just yet and will instead take a two-year hiatus from competing in the sport before reassessing his options in 2026.
‘I’m going to stay fit and I’m going to train for two years,’ he said in an interview with The Times.
‘But I’m going to take a break, put other things forward as a priority. I really enjoy public speaking now and motivating people.
‘It’s trying to get a balance with my work and trying to find out who I am away from sport.
‘And knowing what I’ve done in the past 14 months, I only need two years really. So we’ll look at the landscape in ’26 and if that contract’s worth writing for me, I’ll write it and I’ll train the hardest I can.’
Should he decide to return and compete in his fourth Olympics, Peaty insisted it would not be down to a need to chase more medals or a new world record.
‘I’m only coming back because I want to. I want to do it and see what I can do,’ he added.
‘Winning golds, winning silvers, whatever, that’s not a motivation any more, because I just wake up the next day and I’m like, “OK, whatever”.
‘I’ve won worlds, I’ve won Europeans, I’ve won Commonwealths, I’ve won Olympics. I’ve got world records. I’ve won everything there is to win in my event. I have nothing to prove.’
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