The men’s 100-meter breaststroke competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics was place in the Tokyo Aquatics Centre from 24 to 26 July 2021. It will be the fourteenth straight presentation of the event, which has appeared at every edition since 1968.
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100m Breaststroke Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: Adam Peaty Win Gold
Sir Craig Reedie, an IOC member from the United Kingdom, presented the competition’s medals, while Zouheir El Moufti, a member of the FINA Bureau from Morocco, delivered the medalists’ bouquets.
Three rounds comprise the competition: heats, semifinals, and the final. The 16 fastest swimmers from the heats advance to the semifinals. The eight swimmers with the fastest semifinal times progress to the final. When necessary, swim-offs are utilised to break ties for advancement to the next round.
In the end, Adam Peaty appeared less pleased than he did relieved. He hauled himself up onto the lane divider, yelled, splashed water, grew silent, and gazed into the middle distance.
Emotional and exhausted, he said what appeared to be a secret prayer. “I was likely using profanity,” he added later. More than probable.
“That race was mine to lose,” he stated, a statement he had never previously allowed himself to make. Everyone knew it, but I tried not to think about it.
It wasn’t simply the burden of being the overwhelming favourite; it was everything he had endured. The previous year has been difficult for everyone, according to Peaty, and he is no different.
He has purchased a home and become a father, while attempting to balance these duties with his sport. Due to travel limitations, he was unable to train abroad, and there has been no crowd to cheer him on when he has competed.
“In Rio, it was all about smashing the world record, but this Olympics was quite different,” he explained. This last year, we nearly felt as though we were under siege. He was frank enough to say that he had at times succumbed to the stress of the situation.
Last Words
Peaty is also one of the best Olympic athletes Great Britain has ever produced, a man whose dominance has rendered the event meaningless for everyone else. Second place is the most they can achieve. Simply ask them.
“He has set a new standard,” remarked silver medalist Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands. It is awe-inspiring to see him swim breaststroke, to see what breaststroke is capable of.
