They arrived with the weight of this city and this extraordinary, wild setting on their shoulders. Four young British swimmers asked to rescue what was beginning to become a struggle in the pool for Team GB at these Games, with the host country in the lane on one side of them and the US on the other.
James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott knew what gold in the 4x200m relay was all about. They had worn it around their necks in Tokyo three years ago. But this was the place that resonates with the sound of La Marseillaise and Allez les Blues, and for a brief moment last night, the bid to reclaim the gold medal this quartet had won seemed in jeopardy. A brief moment. The briefest of moments.
The Germans, Americans and Australians had some hope when they erased the early British lead and overtook Tom Dean, the British record holder, who swam in second place.
No one had any reason to doubt Dean, the man who had moved heaven and earth and even pulled out all the stops to maintain the level needed to reach the same level here. He had been setting his own pace throughout the four lengths, swimming a leg of tactical perfection that allowed Britain to regain a lead that it widened.
A marginal lead, turned into a 0.5m lead and a 1.75m lead until we were within sight of Duncan Scott’s red swim cap, closing in on a lead that was a full body length by the time we reached the final length.
Team Great Britain have successfully defended their Olympic gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay.
It was a resounding victory for the defending champions, who led from the start.
Tom Dean was impressive in the first change to maintain Team GB’s early lead
Duncan Scott shone in the final 200 metres and dominated the field to win by more than a length.
The champions pose poolside as Tom Dean (left), Matthew Richards (centre), James Guy (right) and Duncan Scott (in pool) enjoy a dominant victory
It was as emphatic a victory as we had witnessed in Tokyo three years ago. A victory by a margin of 1.35 seconds for the United States, the only quartet that was remotely in contention. If France had been able to count on Leon Marchand, the machine that had just enough power to make it to the 200m breaststroke final as the relay teams prepared to enter, then it might have been a slightly different story. But the man who swims to the guttural roars of “Leon” could not have changed this.
The medal restores Scott to his position as the most decorated British Olympic swimmer of all time, with seven medals, and joint third place alongside Sir Chris Hoy. The unassuming and self-effacing Scott now sits ahead of Max Whitlock, Charlotte Dujardin, Adam Peaty and Sir Steve Redgrave in terms of medals won.
They are back to the mundane realities of being part of a four-man Olympic team that rained down medals three years ago: the altitude training, the endless reps, the Q&As with swim teams on social media, the conversations about one’s most irritating habits and favorite pools.
But nothing has come close to matching the experience of the night in Tokyo when, to quote Tom Dean, a group of British swimmers stood on the podium with their friends, sporting gold medals that no British 4 x 200m freestyle relay team had won for 113 years.
That night, Dean and serial Olympic medalist Duncan Scott took over the shoes of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, who had been dominating the event for a period of continued dominance.
The manner of the victory at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre was such that the experienced James Guy, another of that team, who swam the second leg, was in tears even before presenter Scott had completed his fourth leg.
When they do interviews now, they do so as an MBE, an additional award for ending such a long wait for this particular 556g prize that Johnny Weissmuller and Duke Kahanamoku had contributed to the drought. But the experience was so enriching that they have desperately wanted to see it again. It had been 1,098 days, though it seemed like yesterday.
The optimism was fuelled by Matt Richards, then 18 and fresh from his senior debut at the European Championships. His performance in the 200m individual freestyle here on Monday night – coming through the field and losing by a finger to Romania’s David Popovici while swimming in lane one – was a testament to his physical strength.
The U.S. team put up a momentary challenge, but ultimately finished the race in second place.
The gold medal returns Scott to his place as the most decorated British Olympic swimmer of all time with seven
Australia’s stars looked dejected as they finished third in Paris and took bronze.
The winning quartet hugged poolside as they successfully defended their Olympic title
Richards has gone from naive youngster to self-critical professional who challenges his training regime, swapping Bath University’s high-performance training centre for Millfield in a concerted effort to ensure he doesn’t stagnate.
It was not a good start to the night for Richards, who failed to reach the final of the 100m freestyle after finishing sixth in his semi-final. Ireland were celebrating their first ever gold at the Games, with Daniel Wiffen winning the 800m freestyle.
In the case of the British team, you could say he was one of the ones that got away. Wiffen was born in Leeds, trains with Adam Peaty at Loughborough and represents Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games.
It was the same quartet that swam three years ago, the only difference being that Guy started from Tom Dean, the British record holder starting from the fastest Briton, a reverse formation to that of 2021.