(Reuters) – England’s Adam Peaty said winning 50 metres breaststroke gold at the Commonwealth Games had helped him rediscover his spark – just days after he said he had lost it.
The 27-year-old triple Olympic gold medallist clocked 26.76 seconds on Tuesday to claim his first Commonwealth Games title in the event, ahead of Australia’s Sam Williamson and Scotland’s Ross Murdoch.
Peaty had said he was “heartbroken” and missing his usual spark after finishing fourth in Sunday’s 100m final, an event which he won at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
“I had two options this morning — I either fight or don’t fight,” said Peaty, who had to miss the world championships in June after breaking a bone in his foot.
“Everyone who knows me, knows I fight.
“That means so much to me, because what I have been through the last five years. I lost my spark towards the beginning of the week and I have it back now.
“A lot of people have got to understand that I reached the bottom of the bottom yesterday and to bring myself up with the crowd in my own mind and that is the result. I am so glad I got that loss earlier in the week because these wins feel so much more alive and so much better.”
Peaty also joked that he could “retire now” after adding the elusive medal to his collection.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
