Emotional Adam Ramsay-Peaty says he's 'better than that’ after settling for bronze
The three-time Olympic champion was left in tears after he was comfortably beaten in the Commonwealth Games 100m breaststroke final.
Adam Ramsay-Peaty broke down in tears after being forced to settle for a bronze medal in the men’s 100 metres breaststroke final at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
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The English swimmer had been hoping to reclaim the title he last won on the Commonwealth stage, but he was unable to overhaul the front-runners in the closing stages of the race.
The 31-year-old was pipped by Australia’s Sam Williamson and 18-year-old Filip Nowacki of Jersey in a race he had dominated for eight years before shockingly finishing out of the medals in Birmingham four years ago.
Ramsay-Peaty reached into the crowd to greet his pregnant wife, Gordon Ramsay's daughter Holly, shortly after the end of his race, then said: “It’s hard because I know how hard I work...I’m not crying because it’s bronze instead of gold. I’m crying because I know I am better than that.
"I feel like I couldn’t have put any more in and that’s where it hurts, because I’m like ‘what’s the point of all the metres every day, what’s the point of being exhausted all the time?'
"What’s the point of having to say no to family events so you can go to training’? It has to mean something and for me it has to be human excellence and that is not excellence for me. So that’s the emotion that is unfortunately coming out.”
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Ramsay-Peaty, who is still the world record holder in the event, trailed in almost half a second behind Williamson, while Nowacki repelled his late surge to take silver. The result was all the more surprising given the way in which Ramsay-Peaty had surged through his heats on Friday.
It marked another chapter in Ramsay-Peaty’s increasingly tumultuous Commonwealth Games career. His win as a 19-year-old back in Glasgow in 2014 began a period of almost total dominance of the event, a streak that came to an end with a fourth-placed finish in Birmingham four years ago.
The 31-year-old, who will get another chance to win a fifth career Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 50m event that begins on Sunday, reflected:
“The emotion is something I’m always going to carry and I’m never going to be afraid to show weakness because it’s so important in making stronger people, making stronger men, stronger fathers, stronger husbands, and it’s a realisation of how hard I work.”