Having Same Disorder as 2.6 Million, Olympic Champion James Guy Reveals Relationship Struggles: “My Brain Diverges”

James Guy is one of the most influential figures in the global swimming domain, as he has attained some notable milestones in his career, including five Olympic medals. Guy, who specializes in freestyle and butterfly, is one of the fewest swimmers in the world and has stood atop the podium of almost every international competition.

While he was hitting one landmark after another, there was a point in his life when something wasn’t feeling right, and the swimmer was later diagnosed with a condition that has impacted 2.6 million lives in the United Kingdom alone. Guy revealed another negative aspect of the condition recently, mentioning the ongoing struggles he’s been facing, which ultimately affect his relationship as well.

The health challenges of James Guy

The world champion swimming prodigy has claimed in his interview with BBC Sport that he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The person affected by the illness displays consistent tendencies toward inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity, which hamper their daily lives and their health as well. Such is the case with James Guy; as per his revelation, he remains distracted even when his fiancée talks to him. “Even if Courtney (his partner) is talking to me, she’ll say, ‘Are you listening?’ I’d be like ‘Yeah’ and she’d say, ‘Well what did I say?’ and I’m like ‘er…’ – not in a rude way but because my brain diverges,” he states.

The Bury native said that he wasn’t the brightest child at school, and the teachers had to repeat things quite a few times for him to understand, for which his friends used to mock him, and the swimmer used to feel left out. The condition persisted beyond school when he hit his twenties, which started to affect his daily life as well. From there on, he decided to seek treatment, and he added that swimming has helped him a lot to overcome the ailment.

How swimming came to his rescue

After the diagnosis was done, it enabled James Guy to focus on swimming, and the British Swimming Body provided the swimmer with special support to help him out. Talking about this, he said that it is hard for him to sit still and that he used to have a continuous urge to stay active, and that is where swimming has been beneficial to him as he gets tired and needs to relax afterwards.

The 28-year-old phenom also added that if his coach Ryan narrates something, it won’t get registered in his mind quickly and that he needs a practical demonstration for clarity. Leaving all that behind, Guy will be participating in the British Swimming Championships happening from April 2 to April 7, and he’s eyeing the event to secure his spot for the third consecutive Olympics.

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