One is the first male British swimmer to claim two golds at the same Olympics for 113 years. Two are serial silver winners finally sampling gold. The fourth is a wide-eyed 18-year-old who became champion at the first time of asking and probably thinks this Olympics lark is rather easy,
Mismatched they may be but Team GB’s newest ‘fab four’ were perfectly in sync as they blitzed to a dominant 4x200m freestyle relay victory and continued the swimming squad’s now-daily ripping up of the record books at Tokyo 2020.
Tom Dean, James Guy, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott took on all-comers and left them trailing to touch the wall in 6:58.58 – a mere 0.03s outside USA’s 12-year-old world record and a mammoth 3.23s clear of the second-placed Russian Olympic Committee.
And let’s not forget the ‘fifth Beatle’ Calum Jarvis, who was part of the quartet that qualified fastest from the heats, before being replaced by Scott for the final itself, and still deservedly gets a gold medal of his own.
When Dean and Scott notched a one-two in the individual 200m freestyle event 24 hours earlier, century-old records were broken and this victory had everyone scurrying for the history books again.
A British quartet last won an Olympic 4x200m freestyle relay at London 1908 – the same Games where Team GB’s swimmers last claimed three victories in the pool.
Both those droughts were ended, as the relay gold joined Dean’s individual success and Adam Peaty’s similarly dominant 100m breaststroke triumph for a golden hat-trick.
Dean became the first British man since Henry Taylor 113 years ago to leave an Olympics with multiple swimming golds around his neck.
Seeing this team progress over the last 6 years has been an honour. We always knew one day they would win the big one! Incredibly effort and no one deserves it more than these lads🙏🏼 https://t.co/r0Ej69XSpN
— Adam Peaty MBE (@adam_peaty) July 28, 2021
And after becoming a double Olympic champion in the space of two day, the 21-year-old from Maidenhead admitted his head was still spinning.
“The last 24 hours have been unreal – a complete whirlwind,” said Dean, who swam the opening leg in the final. “This was a best, best, best case scenario.
“That 200m free was always going to be tight and it could have gone one of two ways but it went my way.
“This relay was so strong coming into it – we’ve been talking about this for over 18 months. After the heat yesterday, I thought ‘this could be ours, we’re looking so, so strong’. It came together like we knew it would.”
In the aftermath of Dean’s incredible individual triumph on Tuesday, a video of his family and friends watching the race back at home in Maidenhead in the middle of the night went viral on social media.
Rollercoaster of emotions. 😁😬😟🤩🤗#TeamGB pic.twitter.com/tkib1b1meE
— Team GB (@TeamGB) July 28, 2021
The emotion in their raucous celebrations was palpable and Dean acknowledged that seeing that video was special.
“I saw all my family, all my friends, it set me off again when I watched it! It was amazing and that’s the support that Team GB have back home,” added Dean.
“People are willing to wake up at stupid hours in the morning, it’s been so long since we watched live sport and if we’re able to give them a little bit of excitement, then what more could you want?
“I think they might have been there again for the relay!”
While Dean’s double gold entered the history books, Scott was also edging towards records after claiming individual silver – taking his total tally of second-place Olympic medals to three.
Yet medal number four was the colour he really wanted – a gold that he anchored home with a barely believable split of 1:43.4, a swim that he may have poured any residual frustration from being the bridesmaid once more the previous day.
Guy, who put Team GB into the lead on the second leg, was in a similar position after winning two silver medals at Rio 2016 and the emotions flowed as he burst into tears when Scott was coming down the final 50m with victory for the team in his sights.
“It’s a dream come true - being a young lad and dreaming of an Olympic gold, that’s all I’ve ever wanted,” explained Guy.
“I started crying on the final leg! I was standing there thinking ‘we’re going to win this’. Having that in your head, knowing you’ve won – I was thinking ‘dreams do come true’.
“As soon as Duncan had 100m to go I was thinking ‘it’s over. It’s Duncan Scott – he doesn’t let anyone go past him!’ He won’t let anyone beat him at cards, let alone the 200 free!”
And finally there was Richards. The 18-year-old with a huge future in freestyle swimming, yet was just as impressive in the present – nervelessly swimming the third leg to hand a healthy advantage to anchor-man Scott.
An Olympic champion before he’s even completed his teenage years but with the confidence of youth, he is already dreaming even bigger.
“It’s an honour to have this hanging round my neck,” said Richards of the gold medal. “Forever now, this will be something I can say I was part of.
“It’s something I can tell my kids and grandkids about one day. It’s something I’ve dreamt of for such a long time.
“I’ve got some big goals – a lot of things I want to achieve in my swimming career. As far as I’m concerned, this is just the very beginning.”
Watch out world – this fab four don't plan on saying hello, goodbye just yet.