Tom Dean hoping to become Team GB's most decorated athlete at a single Olympics

Maidenhead's Tom Dean is targeting an unprecedented five medals at next summer's Olympic Games in Paris, a feat - were he to achieve it - that would make him Team GB's most decorated athlete at a single Games and catapult him into the top 10 Great British medal winners of all time.

He acknowledges it's a stretch target and believes the stars must align for him to stand on the podium five times in Paris, but's also proved it's achievable - not only because he's a defending double Olympic champion in the 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay, but also through his performances at the most recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 and the World Championships in Japan earlier this summer.

Having diversified his repertoire of strokes, Dean landed an incredible seven medals at the Commonwealth Games last summer, the most won by a English athlete at any previous Commonwealths. While at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in August, Dean won a medal of every colour as he scooped four medals and might have got his hands on a fifth, had the British 4x100m freestyle relay team not been disqualified in an earlier heat when Dean was being rested in anticipation of the final.

The famous phrase is 'to dare is to do', and Dean believes he's in the form and fitness of his life entering this Olympic year. But he's also modest enough to know this ambitious target may be beyond him. Simply qualifying in all those events for next summer's Games from what is a stacked Great British squad will be an achievement in itself. And he'll then have to raise his levels once more to go out and beat the best of British but also the best from the rest of the world. It's a daunting but exciting prospect, and should he fall short in Paris next summer, Dean should still have at least one more Olympic Games ahead of him to realise those goals.

“I sat down with my coach after Tokyo and we looked at what was possible for the next Games,” Dean said.

“We need the stars to align, and everything will have to go perfectly because there are so many variables that can knock you off.

“Like what happened at the World Championships with the relay disqualification. But assuming all does go well, five medals is on the cards.

“Two individual and three relays and hopefully becoming the most decorated Team GB athlete from a single Games. It would be an honour to add that to my name and make history for Team GB. But yeah, it’s going to take a lot of hard training and a lot of perfect races come July.”

He added: “I think I’m in the best position I’ve been in at this point in a year. I’m sure my coach would say the same as well. You judge yourself off previous years and how I was in the build up to Tokyo. But I’m confident I’m going to be strong heading into the new year. I know I’ve got it within my capacity, but things just get turned up in Olympic year and I’m looking forward to it a lot.”

The five events he's targeting for a podium finish are the 200m individual freestyle, the 200m individual medley, the 4x200m freestyle relay, the 4x100m freestyle relay and the 4x100m medley relay and while Team GB should be strong prospects for the relay events, he'll have to produce his very best to claim a medal in the individual events.

At the World Champions in Fukuoka, he was edged into silver by two one-hundredths of a second by teammate Matt Richards in his favourite event, the 200m freestyle. This after having had titanic battles over the years with another of his compatriots Duncan Scott, who he just got the better of for 200m freestyle gold at Tokyo in 2021. Whatever happens in Paris, Dean knows it's going to be close with the medals separated by fractions of a second.

“At the world championships it was another close race,” he said. “I was unfortunately two one-hundredths of a second on the wrong side of the touch.

“But such is the nature of sport at that level. It’s certainly given me a real boost heading into the Paris year.

“I think the best time to be out-touched by two hundredths of a second is the year before an Olympic year, because it’s given me a whole new sense of drive heading into the training year for Paris.

“The event was good. I was glad to get two individual medals as well as winning the relay again, so we can now add world champions to our Olympic champions CV for the 4x200m. Walking away with four medals is fantastic and gives me a lot of confidence for the plan to hopefully go on and get five in Paris.”

Dean would dearly love to defend his title in the men's 200m freestyle - still his favoured event - but knows he'll have his work cut out to do that against realistic challenges for his Olympic crown from Britain and the rest of the world. At the previous World Championships in 2022, Romanian David Popovici came from nowhere to win the 200m freestyle in 1.43.21, a new junior world record.

“Without a doubt, it's still my favourite event and I'm still the British record holder in that event,” added Dean. “I’ll be the Olympic champion heading into Paris, and I was two hundredths of a second off winning the gold at the World Championships this summer. It's my favourite event and I back myself to win gold next summer, but it’s such a competitive event and that’s why it comes down to hundredths of a second, just like it did in Fukuoka.”

On the strength in depth Team GB have in the event, he added: “It’s great and fantastic for the relay, but it means it’s bloody difficult to qualify from the trials.

“Our national championships are just as quick as any World Championships or Olympic final.

“It is great for the country and the depth of the relay. It's going to be a challenge even to book a ticket on the team come the trials in April. But for British Swimming it’s brilliant and there is no other country in the world that has that kind of depth right now.”

He added: “In the 200m free there’s always someone out there who seems to be swimming quick. Athletes from Romania, Japanese athletes, Korean athletes, and the Aussies are always a force to be reckoned with as are the Americans.

“You can spend all your time looking over your shoulder to see how others are getting on but there’s enough going on just in Great Britain because we’ve got such a strong group of swimmers here. There’s always someone who is breathing down your neck.”

Dean is currently in a hard training block heading into Christmas, but he'll taper that down over the festive period before building back up for the Great British national trials in April, his next milestone event in preparation for the Olympics in July and August.

“This is very much a training hard period,” he said. “I’m in the depths of training now. We’ve got a European short course meet in two weeks’ time and then we start to taper down over the Christmas period, but the Olympic trials in April in the London Olympic pool is the big focus for me now.”