Adam Peaty was unveiled as an Arena face less than a week ago. By the end of the meet, the 19-year-old Briton had won four gold medals and set two new world records.<\/p>\n
While Florent Manaudou also claimed four titles, there were no world records so it could be argued Peaty is the male swimmer of the meet.<\/p>\n
He is certainly Arena\u2019s king of the pool.<\/p>\n
There were a number of female multi-medallists among Arena\u2019s number, notably Katinka Hosszu \u2013 the Iron Lady with six visits to the podium \u2013 and Fran Halsall, the irrepressible Briton who won five, including three golds.<\/p>\n
However, despite their achievements and constant trips to the rostrum, the crown of queen of the pool must go to Sarah Sjostrom, the Swede who won seven medals, three of them gold.<\/p>\n
Back to Peaty. The man of the meet-y.<\/p>\n
As a little boy, Adam refused to go near the bath or the shower and he loathed the pool.<\/p>\n
He overcame his fears and three weeks in summer 2014 have seen him claim two Commonwealth golds and a silver followed by four golds and two world records in Berlin.<\/p>\n
Affable and grounded, he pays tribute to his coach Mel Marshall, former world, European and Commonwealth medallist.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was kind of a naughty teenager, I didn\u2019t really want to do anything but she completely changed me.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe taught me how to work hard and taught me how to work smart, taught me how to race.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe always said I am born for the arena but I don\u2019t know what that means yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just go out there and give my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Sarah, it is a fourth consecutive Europeans where she has made a trip to the podium, the first time as a 14-year-old in 2008.<\/p>\n
However, she was still a bit rueful about not having won more gold.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI knew I had a chance to take seven medals but I am disappointed with some of my swims because I know I can do much better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I need to put more effort into the 100 fly which was lazy in the first 50 and the 50 freestyle I was too tired to do a fast race.
\n\u201cI am very happy with all the relay medals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I am going to be more happy about the competition tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Adam Peaty was unveiled as an Arena face less than a week ago. By the end of the meet, the 19-year-old Briton had won four gold medals and set two …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1284,"featured_media":16672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10070],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n