Rio 2016: Tough love has Team GB's swimmers back on track

Despite funding cuts following disappointment at London 2012, hopes are high for this year's Games

Peaty is Team GB's great hope for gold in the pool (Getty)

It rained medals at London 2012 for Team GB but not in the pool. The swimming was the one damp squib of the Games throwing up just three gongs: one silver, two bronze. Expect that figure to be blown out of the water in Rio.

“It just feels like my stroke is in the best place ever,” says Adam Peaty, 21, who is making his Olympic bow. Confident words and given that the 100m breaststroker has swum quicker than anyone else over that distance this year and has six of the 10 quickest times in history, gold surely looms.

If ever there was a British banker Peaty is it – not just in the pool but across the board for Team GB. If he does swim to form it will be Britain’s first gold in the pool at an Olympics since Adrian Moorhouse in 1988 and Peaty will become a household name.

At the European Championships in London in May he was sensational, winning the 100m in 58.36sec, breaking his own championship record, and he wasn’t even properly prepared as he was mid-training for Rio. He was aiming for the 60-second mark.

Impressive stuff but Peaty is not alone. A record-breaking 2015 World Championship in Kazan, Russia, has also given the squad high hopes. Peaty won gold there too but was joined by James Guy in the 200m freestyle, Jazz Carlin in the 200 metres individual medley and Siobhan-Marie O’Connor in the 800 metres freestyle.

The upsurge in results comes despite swimming having its funding cut post 2012. Under the strict guidance of Bill Furniss, who was appointed in 2013, it has coped admirably. There was a giddiness to the squad at London 2012. Many swimmers were there to make up the numbers and talk of how overawed and overexcited they were. They were drained emotionally and physically come swim time. Furniss has instilled a more ruthless edge.

There is experience in the team in the shape of Hannah Miley, 26, and Robbie Renwick, 27, who are at their third Olympics. At the other end of the spectrum Georgia Coates, 17, gives cause for hope after winning bronze in the 200m freestyle at the European Games.

There are some surprises in the squad, too. Tim Shuttleworth (1500m), Chloe Tutton (200m breaststroke) and Max Litchfield (400m individual medley) form an exciting group who impressed at the trials in Glasgow in April and forced their way into the squad.

Individual medley swimmer Dan Wallace is a lucky lad. He was given a wildcard despite a poor effort at the trials. He is almost alone though in the kid-glove treatment. In Glasgow the bar was set incredibly high – a lot of the swimmers felt too high. Only eight of the 26-strong squad ducked under the qualifying mark. That left a lot of nervous athletes waiting to hear if they were Brazil bound.

Miley will be competing at her third Olympics (Getty)

UK sport has set swimming the target of a minimum of three medals but Furniss claims that everyone selected should be capable of challenging for a place on the podium. He could have taken four more swimmers but has chosen to keep the squad streamlined. “We don’t talk about medals,” he says. “We talk about delivering season-best performances or even lifetime bests when it counts on the day. If you do that and we can get a high percentage of our team doing that then the medals will come.”

“Bill and I took charge in 2013 when the team picked itself and we had a lot of people there making up the numbers,” adds Chris Spice, the performance director. “We agreed that we were never going to do that again. If anyone makes the team when we are in charge they are going to deserve it.”

Tough love – but it seems to be paying off. We shall see in Rio.