Peatys Son Bans Her from Pool Competition

It was the seat which, in happier times, would have undoubtedly been occupied by Olympian ’s devoted mother, Caroline.

Wherever the three-times swimming gold medallist was racing, she would reliably be there at the poolside, cheering her son on to sporting glory.

So much joy did she get witnessing his success that she diligently got up at 4am every morning for years without complaint to drive Adam the 40 minutes to his training sessions at a Derby swimming club.

But on Friday night, Caroline was notably absent among the crowds who gathered at the Tollcross International swimming centre in where Adam, 31, was once more chasing a Commonwealth gold medal.

It is, in fact, the first time she has not watched him compete in person – and all because of a devastating family rift which, to date, has seemed beyond repair.

Instead, it was his pregnant wife Holly Ramsay – the daughter of TV chef – who sat alone to watch Adam win the semifinal of the 100m breaststroke.

Caroline, meanwhile, was at the family home in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, 264 miles away, watching the event unfold on television.

Compounding her misery on Friday night was the fact that she learned that her precious son, who wed Holly at the historic Bath Abbey in December, had decided to take on his wife’s name at the Games – competing officially as ‘Ramsay-Peaty’ and wearing a swimming cap bearing the name.

Before his first race, Holly, 26, shared a photograph on Instagram of her husband wearing the cap, writing: ‘So Special.’

The post, say friends of the Peatys, ‘irked’ Caroline and his father Mark. In fact, say those close to the family, they were left rather furious.

‘They are aware it is the first time Adam is swimming under his new name, and it is a bit galling,’ one friend said.

‘We all wonder why it has to be Ramsay-Peaty and not Peaty-Ramsay?’

The decision is, perhaps, less about a snub than a generational divide. There is a Gen Z trend not just to combine surnames after marriage, but to put the wife’s surname first.

Holly’s childhood friend Brooklyn Beckham, for example, became Brooklyn Peltz-Beckham when he married billionaire heiress Nicola Peltz in 2022.

But whatever the reason, it is likely that Caroline would have been more understanding of the name change – which, after all, makes it clear he is very much a part of the Ramsays’ extended clan these days – if she had been by the poolside.

Family friends say not being present while Adam competes has left her heartbroken. She has, in the past, watched proudly on as her son scooped three Olympic gold medals, eight World Championship gold medals, as well as numerous other accolades since he was a teenager.

Fortunately, the latest events have been available on Channel 5’s coverage of the Games, which she and Mark have watched from their living room.

‘Caroline and Mark were watching Adam swimming but only on TV,’ said the friend.

‘Despite the family rift they will be wishing him all the best.

‘Under normal circumstances they would have gone up to Scotland to see him poolside. They have always been there in the past to support him and cheer him on.

‘It’s very sad the way things have turned out.’

The relationship between Adam and his parents came under huge strain last year in the run-up to his glossy wedding where he married Holly, the second oldest daughter of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares star Gordon and his wife Tana.

Things became strained when Caroline was not invited to Holly’s hen do celebrations at the exclusive Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire in November despite Tana being present with her best friend Victoria Beckham.

Photographs of the gathering were posted on Instagram, fuelling Caroline’s upset.