Adam Peaty: Three-time Olympic champion says winning gold medals will not solve problems

Great Britain's three-time Olympic swimming champion Adam Peaty says golden medals volition not lick his problems.

He pulled retired of April's British Championships, citing intelligence wellness issues.

"A bully person of excavation said a golden medal is the coldest happening you volition ever wear," Peaty told BBC Breakfast.

"It's the coldest happening due to the fact that you deliberation it volition hole each of your problems. It volition not."

Peaty, who inactive intends to vie astatine adjacent year's Olympic Games successful Paris, has said his slump and problems with intoxicant worsened past twelvemonth arsenic helium struggled with injury, information and the breakdown of his narration with the parent of his young son.

He was besides diagnosed with attraction shortage hyperactivity upset (ADHD).

"I took a interruption due to the fact that I was connected this endless hunt of a golden medal oregon a satellite grounds and I looked into the aboriginal and I said 'OK, if I bash get that is my beingness fixed oregon immoderate better?' No," Peaty said.

"So instrumentality the clip present to truly deliberation astir who you are, what you privation retired of beingness and past get the golden medal.

"Hopefully erstwhile I get to the Olympics I volition beryllium successful a precise bully mindset, precise grateful and astir importantly happy."

Peaty won 2 golds and a metallic medal astatine the Tokyo Olympics successful 2021, and a golden and a metallic astatine Rio successful 2016

Peaty has dominated his breaststroke events for astir a decade, successfully defending his 100m rubric astatine the Tokyo Olympics successful 2021 having earlier that twelvemonth acceptable a grounds for the fastest 20 times successful past implicit the distance.

Over his vocation helium has besides won 8 World Championship golden medals, 17 golds astatine European Championships and 4 golds astatine the Commonwealth Games.

Despite the occurrence and his satellite grounds being astir a afloat 2nd quicker than anyone other has ever swum, Peaty says helium hears voices successful his caput which often marque him uncertainty his swimming abilities.

Asked what voices would say, Peaty said: "If I was going retired to a contention sometimes it would beryllium 'you don't merit this', adjacent though I've done seven, eight, 10 years, a decennary of work.

"Or sometimes it would beryllium a dependable of self-doubt, and I deliberation that's earthy due to the fact that it's your encephalon trying to support itself."

Peaty missed retired connected Commonwealth gold successful the 100m breaststroke lawsuit successful Birmingham past year, finishing 4th down James Wilby aft sustaining a breached ft successful the build-up.

"As athletes our brains are wired a small spot differently, we're perpetually chasing reward and if we tin spot that reward we volition enactment highly hard for that reward," Peaty said.

"So it's the aforesaid successful your beingness and however bash you capable that void particularly erstwhile you're injured oregon successful off-season, you're perpetually looking for a precocious oregon a reward and a batch of athletes bash conflict with alcohol.

"For maine it was thing that I was perpetually chasing and perpetually doing and I was similar 'I don't privation this successful my life, I don't truly privation to bash this each the time.'"

If you person been affected by issues raised successful this article, determination is accusation and enactment disposable connected BBC Action Line.

• The communicative of World War Two's 'bouncing bomb': In 2013, Simon Watts spoke to George 'Johnny' Johnson, the past subsister of the Dambusters squadron
• Can you tackle a Victorian exam paper? Shake disconnected the cobwebs and springiness your encephalon a workout with this 19th-century test