Adam Peaty reveals heart-melting words his son said after missing out on Olympic gold by 0.02 seconds

Team GB star Adam Peaty shared a touching moment with his son George after a thrilling 100m breaststroke final at the Paris Olympics, in which he had to settle for silver.

The 29-year-old world-record holder got off to a slow start at the Paris La Defense Arena but dragged himself back into contention with 50 meters remaining in the pool.

Victory would have seen Peaty clinch a third consecutive Olympic gold – and only the second man after Michael Phelps to win the same swimming event at three successive Games.

But it wasn’t to be for the eight-time world champion, with Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi storming home just 0.02 seconds ahead of joint-silver medallists Peaty and Nic Fink to get his hands on gold.

Follow Metro.co.uk’s live blog for updates from the Paris 2024 Olympics

An emotional Peaty was consoled by BBC Sport’s pool-side reporter in an emotional interview shortly after the race, before joining his wife, Holly Ramsay, and family in the stands for an intimate moment.

‘George normally goes, “Daddy, are you the fastest boy?”, and I would’ve said, “Not today”,’ Peaty later explained.

‘But he says, “I love you, Daddy”, and that’s all I care about.’

Peaty said he had been suffering with a sore throat heading into the final, though was reluctant to use it as an ‘excuse’.

‘I had a curveball this morning with my throat and stuff. You can train eight years for something and not feel 100 per cent on a day. And 100 per cent costs you 0.02 and that’s just the way,’ he added.

‘But I don’t ever want that to be an excuse. That’s the cards I was dealt.

‘I won’t be going home thinking about that, even if it feels like a hangover in the morning because of the emotions.’

Peaty continued: ‘Getting here was a big achievement. It’s not sad at all.

‘When I touched the wall. I truly believed I’d got it but it wasn’t meant to be. If I’d won it would have been a fairytale ending.

‘But I’m not defining this whole journey back, the last 14 months, by whether I got a medal or not.’

After Peaty collected and proudly displayed his silver medal on the podium, BBC presenter Clare Balding criticised England’s footballers for refusing to do the same after their Euro 2024 disappointment.

‘I love this because honestly, after the final of the Euros when they [England’s players] all took their medals off, I just thought, “You got to a final, you performed really well, don’t say this means nothing”.

‘I love the fact that Adam and Nic Fink there are clearly incredibly proud of those silver medals and will hold them up and say, “Yes, I won this”.’

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