An emotional Adam Ramsay-Peaty admitted his family feud has ‘taken a toll’ on his career after he won bronze at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday.
The 31-year-old was beaten by Australia’s Sam Williamson and 18-year-old Filip Nowacki of Jersey in the men’s 100 metre breaststroke in Glasgow.
Ramsay-Peaty has been at the centre of a high-profile family feud following his marriage to Holly Ramsay, who is the daughter of the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, in December.
The three-time Olympic gold medallist excluded his parents and other relatives from his wedding, with only his sister Bethany present at the ceremony.
His mum Caroline subsequently made her feelings clear in public as she claimed that the couple had ‘cut my heart out’.
After finishing third on Saturday, Ramsay-Peaty kissed his wife Holly on the stomach as they are expecting their first child together.
‘It’s hard because I know how hard I work. I know the s*** I’ve been through, which is no fault of my own, but it does take its toll,’ an upset Ramsay-Peaty said after winning the bronze medal.
‘I’m not crying because it’s bronze instead of gold. I’m crying because I know I am better than that.
‘I feel like I couldn’t have put any more in and that’s where it hurts, because I’m like ‘what’s the point of all the metres every day, what’s the point of being exhausted all the time?’
‘What’s the point of having to say no to family events because you can’t go to training’? It has to mean something and for me it has to be human excellence and that is not excellence for me. So that’s the emotion that is unfortunately coming out.’
Ramsay-Peaty, who has held the world record in the men’s 100m breaststroke since 2019, impressed in the heats but ultimately fell short in the final as his time of 59.65 seconds was well short of Williamson’s 59.17.
The 31-year-old, who could win a fifth career Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 50m event that begins on Sunday, added: ‘There’s obviously a lot of unanswered questions, which is about right, because we haven’t yet had time to debrief.
‘But that is sport. It can break you. It can make you. You can have highs to highs and lows to lows.
‘My wife is always going to be proud of me. As a father, it doesn’t matter if you come home with a gold – as long as you come home with a teddy, which I did.
‘The emotion is something I’m always going to carry. I’m never going to be afraid to show weakness.
‘Because it’s so important for making stronger people, making stronger men, stronger fathers, husbands.
‘I can’t really put in where it went wrong. Maybe it’s just an off-swim. Or maybe it’s just because I’ve been two years out of the championship heats and semi-finals. But it does hurt.
‘There’s a lot going on in my head right now. The same thing happened four years ago in Birmingham.
‘It’s about ignoring most of the rubbish you read about me online. You don’t know who I am.
‘People who comment have got to look at themselves in the mirror, you cannot hurt me.
‘It’s about my family, and that does come at a cost, being able to ignore that, and being able to focus on my job.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.