Adam Peaty's former training partner lifts lid on 'sheer incompetence' at Aquatics GB that saw his Olympic dreams plunged into darkness when medical failings left him facing Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis alone

When David Murphy arrived on the doorstep of the British Swimming Performance Centre in Loughborough in the summer of 2019, he was sold the Olympic dream.

Then aged 20, he was viewed as one of the country’s top up-and-coming breaststroke talents and was put in the same training group as British swimming superstar Adam Peaty. Under the coaching of Peaty’s long-time mentor Mel Marshall, Murphy was told he could aim to compete at Tokyo 2020 or Paris 2024.

However, less than three years later, his dream turned into a nightmare. In April 2022, Murphy was dropped by Aquatics GB (formerly British Swimming) due to poor performance. Only a matter of weeks later, he was diagnosed with cancer, specifically stage two unfavorable Hodgkin lymphoma.

Murphy had informed the governing body of his worrying symptoms – which had caused his performances in the pool to dip - as far back as November 2021. But he claims his cries for help were ignored. 

Now 25 years old, and with the Paris Olympics he had hoped to be swimming in about to start, Murphy wants to share his story.

‘It is a weird combination of betrayal, anger, and just absolute disbelief that it actually happened,’ he reflects to Mail Sport from his house in Loughborough. ‘It was just sheer incompetence. An awful combination of incompetence and not caring about certain athletes.

‘I think they’ve kind of just been able to do whatever they want and treated their swimmers however they want. They just hope they will just go away and shut up. But not me. Not now anyway.’

Murphy’s swimming journey began in Oxford. He always showed promise from a young age, regularly competing at national championships as he rose through the ranks.

International success came his way in 2016, winning two medals at the European Junior Championships, as well as breaking the British age group record for 17-year-olds in the 50m breaststroke.

The medals continued to rack up at a rapid rate for Murphy before Loughborough Performance Centre came knocking in August 2019. ‘They were all super enthusiastic to get me over to the centre,’ he says.

By the time he arrived, Murphy was on National Lottery funding and was also sponsored by Solo Sports and Arena Water Instincts UK – the swimming brand that then backed Peaty.

In April 2021, the moment he had been training for since joining Loughborough had arrived – the Tokyo Olympics trials. He finished fourth in the 100m breaststroke behind Peaty, James Wilby, and Ross Murdoch, in a personal best time of 60.0sec – just 0.1sec outside the qualifying time for the Games.

Despite missing out on his goal, he came away with his head held high after delivering what he describes as ‘the race of my life’.

However, his joy was short-lived. Suddenly an email popped up on his phone to tell him he had been kicked off funding.

‘It was pretty rough,’ explains Murphy. ‘Mel did talk me through it and was like, “We'll make sure that this works, we'll see what camps we can get you on", but the camps never happened.

‘I feel British Swimming didn't really prioritise me as an athlete after that point. With the Covid restrictions, they were very, very specific on who could have what services. Anyone who wasn't a top dog already got pushed into the sidelines.’

Despite the setback, Murphy went back to Loughborough to train in August 2021 with the following summer’s Commonwealth Games in his sights. But upon his return, something didn’t quite feel right.

‘As I was starting that new season, that was when the first thing popped up,’ recalls Murphy. ‘At that time, it felt like slightly swollen glands, like maybe I'd just caught something.’

Murphy then spoke to the doctor who told him to ‘have a couple of days off‘ and see how he felt. He came back feeling fine and no one was the wiser.

Two months later, though, things started to take a turn for the worse. The results of his mandatory annual athlete screening showed that his lymphocyte levels were abnormal and that he had a high white blood cell count. Aquatics GB, however, never followed it up.

‘They should have flagged it immediately,’ says Murphy. ‘The document says that they need to re-test in a couple of months, which they never did. They just forgot about it.’

Symptoms then started to worsen for Murphy. He started getting night sweats as well as uncontrollable itching to the point where he would feel a burning sensation.

‘I was sat there at the end of my bed for probably 40 minutes at a time sometimes, just scratching, because it was the only way to stop it from itching,’ recalls Murphy. ‘The only way that would stop was if I was just continuously scratching myself. I've got some scars on my feet and my ankles, just from where I've been scratching so much.’

As Murphy’s concern about the matter started to grow, he reported his symptoms to Aquatics GB’s patient doctor management system (PDMS). Swimmers at the centre - funded or not – are required to report their wellness on the app with regularity.

‘I did flag it on my PDMS app every morning,’ explains Murphy. ‘But when I actually started raising the sleep issues as well, it took well over a week for them to even talk to me about it. We'd get in a lot of trouble if we didn't fill the app in, but when we filled it in, and there was an issue, they didn't speak to us, which was just crazy to me.’

In January 2022, Murphy was finally granted a phone consultation with British Swimming staff doctor Kate Jordan. As she lives overseas, he was not able to see her face-to-face.

It was recommended that Murphy have his blood tested with the English Institute of Sport (now known as the UK Sports Institute). A week later, he was advised to go to his local GP to be further assessed.

He was then informed by his GP that they required a reference from the EIS so his blood could be taken to determine what was going on. But they could not provide one.

For weeks, Murphy was being passed between the EIS and his GP with no letter of referral being granted. He was stuck in limbo.

‘The medical trust [with Aquatics GB] was lost in February 2022,’ Murphy says. ‘No one knew what was going on, no one knew who I had spoken to, where I had been, what to do.

‘No one made those connections. That’s when I thought I need to go and do this myself now because it’s clear I’m not getting that here, and I left that too long.’

By mid-March, Murphy finally got the blood tests he needed. He had two tests done over two weeks and both came back showing high CRP levels – an indicator of lymphoma. He was told by the GP to go to occupational health, but Aquatics GB did not offer that service.

Hearing that news was the final straw for Murphy. He decided to go solely down the GP route because ‘British Swimming did not know left from right’.

Throughout this whole process, Murphy was still dragging himself to the pool every day to train with his Commonwealth dream alive. No matter how bad his symptoms got, and how low he felt, he continued.

Going into the British Championships in April 2022, Murphy was ranked within the top three English breaststrokers, with only Peaty and Wilby ahead of him. His personal best was well within the time to make the Commonwealth Games and he knew he just had to replicate what he had done before.

However, with how he had been feeling for five months, his performance levels had dropped. ‘I just felt awful, absolutely awful,’ recalls Murphy. ‘I had been saying for a long, long time, “I don't feel right”. I was telling Mel that throughout my whole taper.’

Race day came and Murphy finished eighth in the 100m breaststroke, two seconds off his PB. It meant his final chance to make the Commonwealth Games was in the 50m breaststroke, but once again he fell short.

Following his final race at the event, Murphy headed over for his usual de-brief with Marshall, before heading down to the warm-down pool. In that conversation, he was informed he was no longer welcome at the Performance Centre in Loughborough.

‘That was it, I just got changed and then said my goodbyes,’ explains Murphy. ‘It was the last time I swam. The second that I touched that wall, I haven't swam since.’

Murphy was devastated but did not have time to dwell on his brutal departure. He went straight back to his GP to address his blood test results. He told the doctor at his practice everything that had transpired over the last few months, which left them shocked. ‘They said "What are you doing here? You need to be in the hospital now”,’ admits Murphy.

The doctor fast-tracked him with the highest urgency to have a scan. Within days, Murphy was informed a 12x5cm mediastinal mass had been found between his lungs and he had Hodgkin lymphoma. Two lung biopsies followed.

Murphy then started a treatment plan that would consist of 12 chemotherapy sessions, one every two weeks, over the course of six months.

Three months into the treatment, the only person from the organisation to reach out to Murphy to supply support - on their own accord - was Marshall.

Murphy contacted Aquatics GB to express his disgust at how he had been treated. He was granted a meeting with Marshall - who he says ‘genuinely wants the best for him’ – as well as Chris Spice, Aquatics GB National Performance Director.

He requested changes to their medical procedures including more thorough screenings to pick up any issues earlier. He was promised within the meeting that these changes would be made.

In January 2023, Murphy got the all clear - he was cancer-free and ready to move on with his life. However, swimmers he knows on the programme told him that Aquatics GB’s promises had not been kept.

‘There are some staff that really shouldn’t be there,’ he says. ‘They should not be able to make the decisions they are making. It sucks to see people you are mates with getting screwed over by people who really shouldn’t be where they are. There is a lack of care for a lot of athletes.’

When the swimming starts in Paris on Saturday, all eyes will be on Peaty as he begins his quest for a third straight Olympic 100m breaststroke title. However, his one-time training partner will be sat at home wondering what might have been.

‘I don’t know if I would have made the Olympics, but I am confident I could have,’ says Murphy. ‘I was making consistent PBs every year. With another three years, I'm easily below 59sec and that would have made Olympics.

‘If I was caught earlier, if British Swimming had done their job properly and they had seen me through the treatment, then maybe I’d have gone back to swimming and I’d still be racing.

‘I know I am fairly young still, I’m 25. But when you have dedicated 17 years, and you’ve missed your A-level proms and you’ve not gone to university, for that goal to no longer be achievable is rough.

‘You’ve got so many talented swimmers who are being royally screwed over by everyone, who really could make it, they could go to the Olympics and they don’t because they quit because they’ve been borderline abused, emotionally, mentally.

‘There is no one to keep them in check because the people who are supposed to be keeping that in check are the ones doing it.’

It has now been over two years since Murphy last donned a pair of goggles, he works a full-time job in the property industry. However, his true passion is music. He spends his free time mixing tracks as a DJ as he looks to blast away the painful memories of the pool.

‘I’m kind of ready for swimming not to be part of my life any more,’ adds Murphy. ‘I am in a good position now with where I am.

‘It’s not been the most ideal circumstances to get me here, and there is still stuff that is going to hurt deep down, that I’ve never made the Olympics. But I’ve got something else that I love in my life.’

After being contacted by Mail Sport, Aquatics GB said in a statement: ‘Due to medical confidentiality, we are unable to comment on any athlete’s medical records or procedures. Athlete health and wellbeing is at the centre of everything we do at Aquatics GB.

‘We constantly review our processes and procedures to ensure we provide the highest levels of support to our athletes. This includes blood tests a minimum of once a year alongside a robust full medical review.’