Tom Dean hopes that taking part in 'Strictly Come Dancing' will make him "hungry" for more Olympic wins.
Tom Dean wanted to challenge himself on Strictly Come Dancing
The professional swimmer walked away with a gold medal at this summer’s Paris Olympics, and he admits he wanted to challenge himself by taking part in the BBC One Latin and ballroom show.
He told Radio Times magazine: "I always knew I was going to have a long break after the Paris Olympics. An Olympics cycle is always quite long, and it's a lot of sacrifice. You're in one place six days a week.
"I want to go to LA and represent Team GB there and hopefully win medals again. But to keep longevity within the sport, I need to do something different, because I want to get back to being really hungry for it. And this is about as far away from the pool you can get!"
The 24-year-old Olympian – who is partnered with Nadiya Bychkova on the contest – went on to share how dancing has made his “shins sore” as he is using a different set of muscles to dance.
He added: "I said if the opportunity for Strictly came up, I'd 100 per cent love to do it. I've been using a whole different group of muscles for it. My shins are sore, and I've never been sore in my shins in my life.
"Swimming and dancing are both sports, but with dancing, you obviously have to add a bit more flair. When you're working hard in the pool, you can be grimacing, and no one will know! I'm going to bring the same training and work ethic, but instead of doing 5,000 metres in a pool, it's 5,000 steps instead.
"I was actually at Olympic training camp when I found out, and I called my mum. She was absolutely over the moon. Half of Maidenhead [where Tom grew up] is going to come along to watch a show."