Britain’s Tom Dean and Duncan Scott take Olympic one-two in 200m free

Six months ago Tom Dean wasn’t sure whether he would even make it to these Olympics. Covid has affected every athlete’s preparations for the Games, but it hit Dean’s more than most. He caught it once, last September, then again in the new year, which he thinks made him the first British Olympian to have it twice. The second time was the worst, too: he was ill for 10 days, then stuck indoors in isolation, and was unable to train for the best part of a month after that. Altogether it cost him seven weeks of winter training. In those moments alone, languishing in his flat, Tokyo seemed a lot further than a 12-hour-flight away.

“It seemed a million miles off,” Dean said. And now here he is, Great Britain’s first Olympic champion in the men’s 200m freestyle since 1908. He won in a national record time of 1min 44.22sec. His friend and teammate Duncan Scott was a fingertip behind him, so won silver in 1:44.26. Which made it Britain’s first one-two in the pool since those same London Games 113 years ago. Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer was third.

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Dean and Scott are sharing an apartment in the athletes village. “We get on really well, whether we’re playing cards, watching films together, or whatever,” said Scott. “We’re mates outside of the pool first, and then we’re competitors as well.” Hard as Scott tried, he could not quite hide his disappointment at finishing second. He was the fastest man in the world this year coming into the race but left himself just too much to do in the final few metres. It helped Dean that he was in the lane inside South Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo, who covered the first 100m or so in world-record pace before he faded in the final 50m.

At the same time, Scott’s disappointment was tempered by his friendship with Dean, and the knowledge of what he has been through these last few months. “It wasn’t life-threatening,” said Dean, “but when you do a sport that requires so much from your cardiovascular system and the disease is affecting your lungs, you’re coughing and all that kind of stuff, you’re a little bit worried about how you’re going to build back from it. When we’re pushing ourselves nine or 10 sessions a week, really working hard and pushing your heart rate up and everything like that, it throws a few question marks in the air about how you’re going to be able to recover.

“Two or three months out from our Olympic trials, I was stuck inside, unable to even exercise. It was really tough to wrap my head around that during an Olympic year.” The coaching staff at Bath University, where he studies engineering, shepherded him through it. “We had a few pretty frank conversations, speaking about previous swimmers who had come back from injuries, but this was slightly different because it wasn’t so clearcut. I was thinking: ‘How am I going to be able to recover from this in time to get a solid block of work under my belt before we start tapering for Olympic trials?’” They spent three weeks slowly building his strength back up.

Dean was third at the last turn, Scott fifth, but by the time they reached the final 25m it was clear to everyone else that the race was between the two of them. “I popped up and I could sort of see him,” Scott said, “but it’s really difficult, it’s not like a camera angle where you can see everything, it’s a just split second when you’re looking up from the water, but I could sort of see, but you can’t really tell.” If the timing of the very last stroke had been only a little different, Scott would have won a gold to go with his two relay silvers from Rio 2016. “Yeah,” Scott said with a smile, “but he’s got very big arms, Deano, so I probably had to be several metres in front to touch him out.”

Scott continued: “Anyway, our best possible outcome is one-two and we delivered that.” Dean agreed, saying: “Going one-two with another Brit on the podium, what more could you ask for, really?” Next they have the chance to be on the top of the podium together, in the 4x200m relay. Great Britain were already slight favourites to win it, even before the two both set personal bests in the individual final. Scott has a shot in the 200m individual medley, too, as well as both the medley relays later in the week. The squad’s disappointing performance at London 2012, when they won a silver and two bronzes, feels like another age.

Adam Peaty has led that change (and he was there in the stands, cheering both men on) but Scott is not so very far behind him. He has already won three Olympic medals. If this week goes to plan, he will have won more than any other Olympic swimmer in British history. Like Peaty, Scott has a fierce competitive streak, but also enjoys a happy camaraderie with his teammates. “I’d say getting a one-two off the back of what Adam was able to do sums up the strength of this squad pretty well,” Scott said. “We’re always asking for more. We have high expectations because of how good the team is. I think that’s a really good thing. And there’s plenty more opportunities for the team later on in the week.”

But Tuesday belonged to Dean. “Watching the flag go up and hearing the anthem being played, it’s just the stuff of dreams,” he said, “I’ve been thinking about this since I started swimming when I was eight years old.” He started to cry while he was singing the national anthem. “I was slightly emotional because I couldn’t look up in the stands and see my family and friends, and my girlfriend. That was what made it tough. But I know they were watching at home.”