Gold medal winner Tom Dean will not ‘set targets’ for 2024 Paris Olympic Games swimming tilt
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ByEurosport
Published 29/06/2024 at 09:41 GMT
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Team GB swimmer Tom Dean claimed two gold medals in his debut Games. The 24-year-old will represent his country once more in the upcoming Paris Olympics, when he will take part in the 200m medley as well as two relay events. In a recent interview, he said that he had not set himself a specific medal target.
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Great Britain swimmer Tom Dean is not setting himself any medal targets ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
In Tokyo in 2021, Dean made his Olympics debut and secured two gold medals, and three years later, expectation is building not just on Dean, but on Team GB as a whole.
Dean is one of the great hopes for the country’s ambitions in France, though he will not be taking part in this year’s 200m freestyle despite claiming gold last time around.
At the British swimming finals in April, he finished third in both the 100m and 200m freestyles, with Matt Richards and Duncan Scott ahead of him in both events, meaning he was not able to claim a place.
Richards is the current world champion and Scott took silver when Dean won in Japan, and he will now be taking part in just one individual event, the 200m medley. He will also be competing in two relay events for Team GB.
Speaking to ESPN, Dean said he has no medal target in mind despite others around him having their own ambitions, and he would instead focus on what was in his control.
"I think Aquatics GB have their own targets. My coach will have his own targets. I'm very much process-driven.
"For me, it's about the race I want to execute, and I focus on that. The outcomes follow the processes," he said.
"Look, I want to defend the 4 x 200m title with those other three lads like we did in Tokyo. Obviously, I want to win medals in individual races and try and get on the podium for that 4 x 100m relay, which we've never done before. All of these are targets, but without being process-driven they won't come, inevitably.
"I never set targets, I never set five targets. I know what I want to do. I know what I want to do - I want to go and bring silverware whenever I go to any major competition - but it's more like 'I want to execute this kind of race on this event and I know that this is what I need to do.' Then, off the back of that, medals will hopefully follow."
Dean is aware that after his impressive bow in Japan, there is plenty of pressure for him to perform once more.
"Every time I've raced since Tokyo there's been an expectation to bring in medals, not just relay medals," he conceded. "The pressure is always there, and it never gets any easier to win medals on the world stage, that never changes.
"You still have to be performing as the top three in the world. It's not an easy feat, and without a doubt there's definitely more pressure.
"But like I said, that's what the three years of racing has helped me to learn is how to deal with that, and actually to an extent I don't really care what anyone else thinks. You have to have that mindset.
"I know there's that expectation to bring home medals because of what I've done in the past. But actually, if I flip it on its head, I know I can bring home medals because I have done it in the past. But like I said, it doesn't get any easier year-on-year."
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