Great Britain's Adam Peaty has described his performance in the 100m breaststroke final at the Olympic Games as "absolutely incredible".
The 21-year-old was well clear of the rest going into the final, and proceeded to break his own world record for the second time in as many days with a time of 57.13s.
The medal was Team GB's first of the Rio Games and their first men's Olympic swimming gold since 1988, and Peaty insists that there is more to come from him.
"I can't even put into words what that swim means to me. I was aware I was in front but not by that much. I touched the wall and looked to my left and thought 'where is everybody?'. I thought the best possible race I could do would be get to 57.3 so to get 57.1 is something else. It's absolutely incredible," he told reporters.
"The idea of making the team but not pushing the team forward was not really an option for me. Me and my coach [Mel Marshall] push forward every day. I'm not going to settle for just this. I'm going to push forward – I'm sure every gold medallist says this but me and Mel [Marshall] operate differently and we are always pursuing excellence and self-improvement. If we're not doing that I don't really see the point. It'll be good to get back to Loughborough to get back to it and look for areas to improve.
"But for now I'm going to enjoy it and get the relay done and deliver another good performance for Team GB. It just proves you don't have to have the best facilities around you. People think this is what it takes to become an Olympic gold medallist but what you really need to do is put 100% effort in. My parents have been there from the start and always push me forward.
"I look at those flags and seeing those colours means so much to me. We've done so much in this country and to represent the people at home is an absolute honour for me. That proves tonight that kids watching at home are in the same position I was four years ago watching others take the glory and win races. London was so much for me and really inspired me."
South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh and USA's Cody Miller picked up silver and bronze respectively.
Barney Corkhill
