Olympic swimming coach ‘offered to train William’s three children’

The woman who coached Olympic gold medallist Adam Peaty has said she offered to train the Duke of Cambridge’s three children after hearing about their love of swimming.

Former Olympian Melanie Marshall told William that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis could be future swimmers, as she picked up her MBE at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.

She said the day was “fabulous” and a “real celebration” of her family and friends.

Marshall told the PA news agency: “We talked about swimming, his kids are really into swimming.

“I’ve said to him, when they’re old enough I’m more than happy to take them on the Olympic journey, keep them going, and I look forward to seeing them when they’re 18.”

The former swimmer, who won medals for Team GB from 2001 to 2008, retired after the Beijing Olympics, and later became head coach at a club in Derby.

She coached Peaty to become the first British swimmer to retain an Olympic title in the final of the men’s 100m breaststroke, claiming his country’s first gold medal at Tokyo 2020.

Marshall said swimming or any physical activity is “really important” for young people to take up in an increasingly “sedentary lifestyle”.

Speaking about female coaches in sport, she added: “I’d like to see a female coach in the NFL or the Premier League, that would be great.

“We’ve got to see it in the next century, we need to be working towards a place whereby we’re given a platform to be able to do that.

“It isn’t about gender, it’s about capabilities, and I back that women have great capabilities we should be seeing.”