Dean, however, isn’t entirely immune to nerves. It’s not a major championship final or a head-to-head with his greatest rivals that are causing Dean’s current feeling’s of tension, though; rather, it’s his move north of the border that’s been giving him sleepless nights.
Dean was born and brought-up on the outskirts of London and, for the past seven years, he’s been based in Bath, to where he moved while still a teenager. And it was while based in Bath that became one of Britain’s most successful-ever swimmers.
On his Olympic debut, at Tokyo 2020, he became Britain’s first swimmer for over a century to win two gold medals at a single Olympic Games and at Paris 2024, he added a third Olympic gold to his collection.
However, at the age of 25, the Englishman has made one of the biggest decisions of his adult life. He’s left Bath, and his coach of the past seven years, Dave McNulty, and has joined the training group at the University of Stirling and while he’s excited about his relocation, there’s also a bagful of apprehension too.
“The move has been quite nerve-wracking for me,” Dean admits.
“I’m 25 years old and I know my way around this sport so this move has been the biggest change for me since I became an adult.
“My whole family are from the south and so when I was in Bath, I was very close to home. Bath has been my city for seven years so I’d become so comfortable there, I knew everyone and I was familiar with how everything worked.
Tom Dean has joined the University of Stirling swim squad(Image: Jeff Holmes/ University of Stirling)
“The comfortable and easy thing to do would have been to have stayed where I was – I could have continued with my usual routine but would I, in a few years, look back and thought I should have put myself out of my comfort zone.
“And while I loved every minute of my time in Bath, I did get to a point where I thought a new city and a new programme might be the fresh start I needed.
“But, of course, this move might not work out.
“I might not click with the coaches or with the training group. That’s always a possibility. I don’t think that will happen and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure this works out, but you never know.
“It’s like anyone who makes a big change – it’s a leap of faith. It’s the biggest change in my life in a decade and with that comes a lot of nerves.”
Despite the nerves, Dean headed north a week ago. And while there is a risk with any change of training base, the pull of Stirling is strong.
The training group, led by coaches Ben Higson and Brad Hay, includes a raft of major championships medallists but the single most significant individual in the group for Dean, is Duncan Scott.
The Alloa man has long been the headline swimmer at Stirling and during his time based there, he’s become Scotland’s most-decorated athlete with two gold and six silver Olympic medals, as well as literally dozens of further major championship medals. More significant, to Dean anyway, than Scott’s medal collection is that the pair have been direct rivals in the pool for a number of years, with their highest-profile head-to-head coming in the 200m freestyle Olympic final at Tokyo 2020, in which Dean pipped Scott to gold.
Tom Dean is a three time Olympic champion(Image: Getty Images)
The pair have also been longtime relay teammates and training camp partners and so the relationship and the rivalry played a significant part in Dean’s decision to relocate.
“Duncan’s a few years older than me, and he was a real hero of mine when I was growing up. So to now both be established senior athletes and have the chance to train with him daily is super-exciting. I think this is going to be one of the most competitive training groups in the world, especially in the events I do, with Duncan and Jack McMillan (world and Olympic relay gold medallist from Northern Ireland) here as well,” the Englishman says.
“What’s interesting is that when you’re so close with someone competitively, it can either be a real positive or a real negative. You could potentially clash, especially if your personalities don’t click.
“But what’s fantastic with Duncan and I is that first and foremost, we’re great friends. That’s a huge positive because it means we have a really healthy level of competition, both in training and in competition.
“We are competitive, but it’s a friendly rivalry and we definitely get the best out of each other. We’ve been on training camps together countless times, and I’ve pushed myself to places I otherwise wouldn’t have had Duncan not been there, and had we not been so closely matched. So to get that day in, day out is a real exciting prospect.”
Duncan Scott: I’m 28 but I’m better than ever and still have things I want to achieve
Dean arrives in Stirling at a pivotal point in his career. Having been wildly successful in his early-twenties, he realised an extended break after Paris 2024 was required and he certainly made the most of his six months out of the pool.
A stint on Strictly Come Dancing was one particular opportunity he was able to take which would, in a typical swimming year, have been out of the question.
His time out of the pool had the desired effect, with Dean admitting he headed into the recently-concluded 2025 season with renewed motivation and freshness. Earlier this summer, a further major championship gold medal was added to his collection – GB won gold in the 4x200m freestyle at the World Championships, with Scott also in the team – and as Dean looks towards next summer’s Commonwealth Games, and then the 2028 Olympics in LA, he’s rediscovered the drive that’s needed for someone who’s aiming to improve his already remarkable medal record.
”I took a long break after Paris and there were a number of factors why I did that,” he says.
“I had been non-stop years and I had given everything physically and mentally for my whole senior career, and that’s tiring.
“Having won three Olympic gold medals is, of course, amazing but I do feel like I still have more to give and so, after Paris, at the start of a new Olympic cycle, what better point to take time out of the water, spend time with my family and do some things I wouldn’t normally be able to do?
“It helped me reach a point where I was really fired up to get back into the pool and I have so much more still to give, which really excites me.”
(Image: Jeff Holmes/ University of Stirling)
In the pool, Dean will likely blend in seamlessly. But out of it may be another story and the Englishman admits that, while his initial impressions of Stirling as a city are overwhelmingly positive, he’s also encountered a few of the usual problems of an Englishman who ventures north of the border.
“I went to the cafe at the training centre and asked for a sausage bap and it turns out that, in Scotland, you have two types of sausage, which was news to me,” he says.
“And it’s such a cliché but I do still struggle with the Scottish accent.
“But other than that, it’s all good so far and I’m in good hands with the Scottish guys. They’ll keep me right.”