BICESTER swimmer Kieran Bird played an important role as Team GB collected their first Olympic gold in the pool at this year’s Paris Games.

James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott retained their men’s 4x200m freestyle relay title last night, after Bird deputised ably for Scott in the morning heats, as Team GB qualified fastest, nearly half a second quicker than the USA.

For the final itself, a time of six minutes and 59.43 seconds was 1.35 secs ahead of runners-up the United States, while bronze medallists Australia were a further 1.2 secs back.

Guy got Team GB in front and Dean kept them there despite a wobble mid-swim as they slipped to fourth at one stage.

Richards then handed over the baton to Scott and he secured the win to give Team GB their fourth gold of these Games.

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Scott’s leg of 1min 43.95 secs was the race’s fastest and would have won him gold in the individual event on Monday, when he finished fourth, just 0.08 secs off bronze and 0.15 secs off top spot.

In being part of the first swimming team in history to defend an Olympic relay title with the same quartet, Scott joined Sir Chris Hoy on seven Olympic medals. Only Sir Bradley Wiggins and Sir Jason Kenny have more.

“I’m nowhere near the level of athlete Chris Hoy has been, I think that’s taking away from what he’s achieved,” said Scott.

“I don’t think I should ever be compared to Sir Chris Hoy. He’s well above what I’ve achieved. It’s pretty cool in terms of numbers but he’s got quite a few better colours than I do.

“I’ve had so many medals won by relay teammates, I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done. They put me in a phenomenal position like they always do.”

Bird, who had earlier missed out on a spot in the men’s 400m freestyle final at this year’s Games, has trained at the Team Bath Sports Training Village since 2018.

Stephen Baddeley, director of sport at the University of Bath, told the Team Bath website: “Congratulations to Tom, Kieran, their teammates and coaches on a magnificent achievement.

“To go into an Olympic Games as defending champions and pre-event favourites provides a huge amount of pressure but they have taken that in their stride and once again delivered when it matters most.

“Tom wears the mantle of Olympic champion well. He is friendly, dedicated, supportive of the university in and out of the pool, and a true inspiration to everyone at the Team Bath Sports Training Village. Congratulations to him on becoming a triple Olympic gold medallist.

“We are also absolutely delighted for Kieran, who swam superbly in the heats. He joined the Bath Performance Centre at the same time as Tom in 2018 and it is wonderful to see him rewarded for his hard work.”