It\u2019s hard to imagine the six foot four man-mountain that is Tom Dean being nervous or apprehensive about anything.<\/p>\n
Three Olympic gold medals, two world titles and a drawerful of European and Commonwealth medals would be enough, you\u2019d think, to fill anyone with impenetrable confidence.<\/p>\n
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Dean, however, isn\u2019t entirely immune to nerves. It\u2019s not a major championship final or a head-to-head with his greatest rivals that are causing Dean\u2019s current feeling\u2019s of tension, though; rather, it\u2019s his move north of the border that’s been giving him sleepless nights.<\/p>\n
Dean was born and brought-up on the outskirts of London and, for the past seven years, he\u2019s been based in Bath, to where he moved while still a teenager. And it was while based in Bath that became one of Britain\u2019s most successful-ever swimmers.<\/p>\n
On his Olympic debut, at Tokyo 2020, he became Britain\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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However, at the age of 25, the Englishman has made one of the biggest decisions of his adult life. He\u2019s left Bath, and his coach of the past seven years, Dave McNulty, and has joined the training group at the University of Stirling<\/a> and while he’s excited about his relocation, there\u2019s also a bagful of apprehension too.<\/p>\n \u201cThe move has been quite nerve-wracking for me,\u201d Dean admits.<\/p>\n \u201cI’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.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cMy 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\u2019d become so comfortable there, I knew everyone and I was familiar with how everything worked.<\/p>\n Tom Dean has joined the University of Stirling swim squad(Image: Jeff Holmes\/ University of Stirling)<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cAnd 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.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, of course, this move might not work out.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s like anyone who makes a big change – it\u2019s a leap of faith. It’s the biggest change in my life in a decade and with that comes a lot of nerves.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The Alloa<\/a> man has long been the headline swimmer at Stirling and during his time based there, he\u2019s become Scotland\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Tom Dean is a three time Olympic champion(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n 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\u2019s decision to relocate.<\/p>\n \u201cDuncan’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,\u201d the Englishman says.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cWhat’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.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what’s fantastic with Duncan and I is that first and foremost, we’re great friends. That\u2019s a huge positive because it means we have a really healthy level of competition, both in training and in competition.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n