Strictly star Tom Dean forced to have 'tough' conversation with friends before Olympics

Strictly Come Dancing star Tom Dean has opened up on the "tough" conversation he was forced to have with his friends while studying at university.

The Olympian started his swimming journey when he was just eight years old when he joined the Maidenhead Marlins. The 24-yeear-old is now a three-time Olympic swimming champion after his quartet successfully defended the 4×200 metres freestyle relay gold this summer in Paris.

Before devoting his life to the sport, Tom went to the University of Bath in 2018 to study mechanical engineering while training at the National Centre for Swimming in Bath. However, speaking on the Paul Chowdhry podcast earlier this year, Tom admitted his training regimen meant he was had a slightly different experience compared to his friends.

He said: "It's about everything outside the pool, what you eat and not drinking and living clean and all that good stuff. I tell you what was tough was before I went to the Olympics, when I was like 'no I'm not going to go out, I'm not going to drink', and they were like 'why, what are you doing?'

"And I was like 'well I might go to the Olympics at some point, that was a tough bit. I used to be like 'I've got to train tomorrow morning' and they would say well 'why don't you have a day off?' It doesn't really work like that, that was a funny one."

Tom took home two medals three summers ago in Tokyo, where he became individual 200 metres freestyle champion as well as charging to relay victory. However fierce competition for places at Olympic trials meant he missed out on a chance to defend his individual title in Paris.

The 6ft 4in athlete took to the dance floor for the first time last week alongside his partner Nadiya Bychkova. The pair danced the tango to Harry Styles ’s song Golden which received 23 points.

Tom began his career by breaking records at the European Junior Championships in 2017 and 2018 when he won gold in the 200m individual medley. He then became the first British male swimmer in 113 years to win two golds at the same Olympics in 2021 when he competed individually and as part of his team.

Speaking on the podcast, Tom revealed the diet he must stick to in order to keep himself in shape. He said: "It's more like the amount you've got to eat through the day. The diet plan is basically eat as much as you can, I'm on like 7,000 calories a day.

"So it's like two big breakfasts, big lunch, snacks before and after training. For breakfast I have a bowl of porridge, fruit and peanut butter and bananas and stuff beforehand and then afterwards I'll have amost a Full English basically, eggs, sausage, toast, beans, mushrooms.

"Big lunch, snacks before training, normally like a peanut butter bagel, cereal bars, bananas, yogurt, granola before bed because if I don't I'll wake up in the night because I'm hungry. I wake up at like 3am, I've got to go downstairs and make myself some food in the kitchen.

"I've been sat at my kitchen having bagels at three in the morning and you've got to get up for training a few hours after that."