Tom Dean: 'incredible' to collect MBE says Olympic swimmer

Tom Dean won two gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics

An Olympic gold medal winning swimmer says it was "absolutely incredible" to collect his MBE at Buckingham Palace.

University of Bath student Tom Dean won two golds at the Tokyo Olympics last year and was presented with the honour by the Princess Royal.

The 22-year-old said he had a "little chat" with the princess, who said she was "incredibly proud" of him.

Mr Dean represents Team Bath and deferred his mechanical engineering studies to concentrate on the games.

He became the first British male swimmer in more than a century to win two golds at the same Olympics, triumphing in the 200m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay 24 hours later.

He joked that he had "had worse Thursdays" as he collected his MBE for services to swimming.

Mr Dean is now concentrating on winning more medals at the Commonwealth Games

The swimmer, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, said it was a "privilege in itself" to see the inside of the palace.

Mr Dean has now set his sights on more glory at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham which begin on 28 July.

"I think we are going to come home with quite a lot of medals which will be exciting," he said.

"They (the Games) are just up the road in Birmingham, (the) home crowd packed out, 5,000 people in that new aquatic centre," he added.