The 7,000-calorie diet and training secrets behind Team GB swimming’s push for Olympic gold

Great Britain’s 200m freestyle Olympic champion Tom Dean details what it takes to achieve glory in the pool as the swimming at Paris 2024 begins

An extraordinary training schedule for every Team GB swimmer has put them in position to succeed at the Olympics.

The work has been done over the last three years since Tokyo, now it’s time to perform at the Aquatic Centre.

Each swimmer’s mental edge could ultimately decide how the medals are shared out, as detailed to The Independent by world champion Matt Richards.

• FOLLOW LIVE: Olympics 2024 - Latest updates as Team GB go for gold in Paris on Day 1

But the relentless pursuit of gold will see every swimmer sacrifice thousands of hours across a cycle in an intensive training plan and the arduous task of sticking to a diet in order to meet expectations in training and recover properly.

Here, Tom Dean, the 200m freestyle Olympic champion, details the secrets behind Great Britain’s medal factory as the men and women eye glory in the pool this summer:

The 7,000 calorie diet

“Nutrition is a big part of it,” Dean, a Speedo athlete, tells The Independent. “For me the key is to eat enough, I’m eating 6,000 to 7,000 calories per day.

“I have two big breakfasts, one before morning training, one after, a big lunch. A snack before training and after training in the evening, a big dinner and something before bed.

“I have a bowl of oats, peanut butter, banana, fruits, honey, that’ll be about 1,200 calories to start the day off,” Dean adds.

“That and a black coffee. That’s my first breakfast. Then it’s scrambled eggs, a bagel, avocado for the second breakfast.”

Adam Peaty of Great Britain during training (Reuters)

The daily grind for Team GB swimming

“It’ll be two hours in the water in the morning, 8-10am, but there’ll be half an hour of core work and mobility before it,” Dean explains.

“Then we’re in the gym for an hour and a half after that, 10.30 to 12. Then we’re back in the water at 3pm, another half an hour of core work, mobility and shoulder preparation before it. Then we’re in the water for two hours, 3.30pm to 5.30pm.

“Then I’m home, having dinner at 7pm, relax for an hour or two, then getting into bed as you have to be up early to do it all over again.

“It’s full-on days, it’s a lot of work, that’s six days per week, we get Sundays off. At the end of the week, it’s recovery, take Sunday as a complete reset, try and get some energy back, refuel, sleep and then back at it Monday morning again. It’s a full-on week, it builds up over a cycle and then over a full year to be able to prepare for the Games.”

James Guy, Matt Richards and Tom Dean react as teammate Duncan Scott brings home gold in the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay at Tokyo 2020 (Getty)

The importance of lactate testing and pushing yourself to the limit

“The weeks shape up depending on the block. This week we’re on an anaerobic block, a few recovery sessions per week, two aerobic maintenance sessions per week, then anaerobic and VO2 work, pushing yourself to the limit,” Dean adds.

“I’ll do 100m repetitions at an all-out effort, some peak-lactate measurement sessions, as high a lactate acid measurement as you can in your blood.

“The weeks follow a similar pattern. Putting as much physical stress in the body and recovering in the most efficient way to push the body even more. The trickiest part is the recovery to get enough out of the following session.

“Sometimes we’ll descend down to three or four 100m repetitions. Going off heart rate, we try to hit 10-15 beats below maximum heart rate. I’m trying to go 52 or 53 seconds on long course, 49 seconds on short course, a handful of those. Then back to aerobic, a few hundred metres, a few hundred metres at 30 beats below maximum heart rate and then a few hundred metres at that high-end stuff. We might do that set, three to five rounds.

“Sometimes we chuck in some race pace, to simulate the high end, maximum kick efforts, or sometimes the slow, long, boring aerobic drill stuff to build the base. Every session has a different stimulus and everything has something to get out of it.”