Strictly Come Dancing: Olympian Tom Dean’s journey from gold medals to glitterballs

The swimmer won gold in the men’s freestyle relay at this year’s Paris Games

Tom Dean follows in the footsteps of many sportsmen before him as a contestant on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The professional swimmer, 24, was announced to participate on the 2024 run of the hit BBC dancing competition on Radio 1 in August, having accidentally confirmed rumours he would be a contestant after reaching the final of the men’s 200m individual medley at the Paris Olympics.

“I am taking part in Strictly Come Dancing 2024!” he announced on BBC Radio 1. “You may have heard me accidentally say it poolside first… but now I can officially talk about how excited I am to get stuck into something new, meet some brilliant people and get dancing. Bring it on!”

Dean is a three-time Olympic champion and was awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours in 2022 for services to swimming.

The youngest contestant on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing line-up, Dean grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire with his four siblings and went on to study mechanical engineering at the University of Bath while also undertaking swimmer training.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Dean made history as the first British man to win a gold medal for the men’s 200m swim freestyle in more than 100 years, going on to win a further gold medal in Tokyo and become England’s most decorated athlete at the subsequent 2022 Commonwealth Games, winning a total of seven medals.

This summer, he brought home his third gold medal for Team GB in the team 4 x 200m freestyle relay, where his family cheered him on from the stands wearing the letters that spelled out his name on their t-shirts.

Tom Dean after winning the gold medal in the Men’s 200m Freestyle Final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (Getty Images)

His sister Connie, who had been watching her brother compete, told the BBC in the wake of Dean’s victory:  “You don’t see all the work that goes on in the dark. This is just the light. To see him do that after decades of work, it’s indescribable. It’s a gruelling sport: you’re waking up at 5am. You have to go to bed at a certain time every day. You have to eat right.”

Following his win, Dean admitted he would be taking part in Strictly when he made reference to his fellow Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty, who was partnered with Katya Jones on Strictly in 2021.

“Naturally, you want to take a break after you’ve had a full Olympic cycle, and the opportunity arose,” he told reporters. “I thought it would be really exciting to try something a bit different. I’ll be doing that and straight back into training after it. It’s something to look forward to.”

Dean, Matthew Richards and James Guy after winning gold in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay Final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Getty Images)

Speaking to GQ in July, Dean revealed swimming even infiltrates his behaviour on the dance floor when he’s out with his Team GB friends:

“Every time we go on a night out, we go straight into our individual strokes and just start stretching out,” he said.

“It attracts quite a bit of attention.

“We’ll see a bit of that in London for that closing ceremony watch party. Everyone will be busting out a few different moves – backstroke down the dance floor.”

Dean competing in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley Heats at Paris 2024 (Getty Images)

Of Dean’s dancing ability, his mother Jacquie Hughes told Somerset Live the sportsman had participated in dance classes at school but “wouldn’t say he was John Travolta”.

“Him and his brothers always choreograph a really funny dance for Christmas to show to me and his sisters, which is always hilarious, which they reveal on Christmas Day, but that’s just a bit of fun,” she said.

“I would say swimming was his natural talent, but he is very game.”