Bruno Fratus on reversing retirement plans to chase Paris 2024: 'Getting a medal changes everything'

Bruno Fratus was considering retirement before winning a swimming bronze at Tokyo 2020, now he's training for Paris 2024.

"That's the difference a good swim can make," Fratus told SwimSwam by videocall while the Brazilian was on a shoot with his sponsors in France.

He revealed that he was close to calling it quits even before the Tokyo Games.

"Before Tokyo we were all extremely stressed out with pandemics and postponements and cancellations and all this security [issues] that a virus can bring.

"But after Tokyo everything went out well thank God. And of course, getting a medal changes everything, I think if I hadn't gotten a medal in Tokyo I would be retired by now, that's for sure.

Last summer Fratus clocked 21.57 in Tokyo to claim a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle behind USA swimmer Caeleb Dressel, who set a new world record at 21.07 to win gold, and France's Florent Manadou, who celebrated silver just two hundredths of a second faster than Fratus.

"Being successful at the Olympics changes everything and gives you the fire, makes you keep burning, you know?" Continues the Brazilian.

"You just want to chase that feeling, that sensation, that moment in time over and over and over again, so that's what kept me going."

Fratus became the oldest swimmer ever to win a first Olympic medal at 32.

Though he was already a decorated swimmer at the World Championships, Pan Pacific, and Pan American Games, he had never won an Olympic medal.

Bruno Fratus: Anger and frustration become peace and tranquility

So what's changed since his maiden Olympic medal win?

"[It's] Mainly mental, because in 2012 I was 23 and I finished fourth, I was really disappointed, so I just wanted to rush back home and train hard and do my best. It was very based on my comeback after 2012.

"Also 2016 was really based on anger and frustration and trying to overcome through force, through strength, the disappointments I had prior to the Games and that's when I got injured.

"In 2013 I had to go for my first surgery, then in 2018 two years after Rio I had another injury, a severe injury, had to go through surgery, but as I said it was all based on anger and frustration and that wasn't the best way of channeling it but it's just the way it was.

"And now coming out of success in Tokyo - which I consider to be success - I had the peace of mind to take a deep breath, enjoy myself, take a break, you know, gain a few pounds, enjoy my marriage, go back to Brazil and see my friends.

"And now we're just back home and training for Paris, and not being desperate to prove to everybody and especially to myself that I could be faster.

"So there's a lot of tranquility and peace of mind that I much needed in my opinion to work soundly and healthily."

Bruno Fratus: Plans before Paris 2024

Next up for Fratus are the World Championships which are set to be held in Budapest, Hungary, in June 2022.

Originally scheduled to be take place in 2021, the championships were pushed back one year after the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The Hungarian capital recently replaced Fukuoka as city host, although Japan will stage the event again in 2023.

So is he all in?

"World champs all in man, as long as World champs are happening... World champs right? I mean it doesn't get any bigger than world champs unless it's the Olympics.

"So as long as world champs are happening I'm training and focussing on world champs."

And is it just the 50 free or does he have a relay race in mind?

"I'm training for the 50 free and that's it."