As it was in Tokyo, so it goes again in Paris. On Tuesday night, James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott became the first quartet in Olympic history to successfully defend a 4x200m freestyle relay title. Their victory means Scott has won his seventh medal, which puts him level with Chris Hoy in third-place on the list of Britain’s most decorated Olympians. Scott characteristically refused to let anyone compare the two of them.
“I’m nowhere near the level of athlete Chris Hoy was,” Scott said, “I think to say that I am would be to take away from what he achieved. I’ve won so many of my medals because of my teammates in relays, and I cannot thank them enough for what they’ve done for me over the three Olympics I’ve competed in, but I don’t think I should ever be compared to Chris Hoy. It’s pretty cool to be level with him on numbers, but he’s got a few better colours than I do, that’s for sure.”
His teammate James Guy wasn’t so modest. “Damn right I would compare them,” Guy said. “Duncan’s an incredible athlete.” It was Scott’s second gold, to go with his set of five silvers. He has two more races ahead this week, in the 200m individual medley and the 4x100m medley relay, which means he could yet draw level with the two men left above him, Bradley Wiggins, who won eight, and Jason Kenny, who won nine.
For Scott, it meant he enjoyed a swift recovery from the disappointment of coming fourth in the 200m freestyle final on Monday. “I’ve tried to park what happened. That’s just the nature of sport, I know what I signed up for. Sometimes you’re just on the other side of it like I was on Monday. But this time I was fortunate enough to have some pretty incredible teammates who made sure I was on the right side of it instead.”
It was Britain’s first gold medal in the swimming pool. Their chances of winning more of them depend, in the large part, on whether Adam Peaty can recover from Covid in time to compete in the two medley relays this weekend. Guy had been sharing a room with Peaty until he came down sick, and has been speaking to him since. He said that it was still touch and go whether Peaty would be fit or not.
“Adam texted me before the race, sending me some silly voice notes, so he seems happier. When I heard he was feeling off, I thought it was probably just sniffles but he was pretty bad after the race. And having all those emotional ups and downs, all that pressure, and the come down off it, it all hit him pretty hard. He’s definitely getting better, and hopefully he will be ready for the relays but I know he was hit hard by it. He said his lungs felt tight and very phlegmy.”
