A medal-hopeful swimmer gave a tearful interview saying he was 'so f---ing proud' of his nurse mom for helping fight COVID after he could only finish 6th

• British swimmer James Wilby says he was sorry he could not win an Olympic medal for his mother.
• Wilby finished sixth in the men's 200 meter breaststroke final, and paid tribute to his nurse mom afterwards.
• "I would have liked to have won for her," he said in a tearful post-race interview.

British swimmer James Wilby broke down in tears and said he was sorry he could not win an Olympic medal in Tokyo for his mother, a nurse on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wilby qualified second-fastest for Thursday's 200 meter breaststroke final after a superb swim in Wednesday's semifinal.

However, he was unable to replicate that performance with a medal on the line, finishing sixth as Australia's Izaac Stubbelty-Cook took gold with an Olympic record.

Netherlands' Arno Kamminga, who had reached halfway more than two seconds inside world-record pace, finished second.

After the race, Wilby was asked by reporters about his mother, who has been working as a nurse on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Oh God, now you're going to get me emotional," he said in a post-race interview, fighting back tears.

"My mom's been putting in such a shift for me over the last 27 years and that's probably been the main disappointment," he said.

"I know I've made her proud but I haven't quite won the medal I would liked to have won for her."

Eventually breaking into tears, he continued: "She's been working as a nurse, giving out vaccines recently, to an extent which makes me - if you can bleep this out - so f---ing proud of her, and for what she's done for me and my brother over the last quite a few years.

"I'm really, really happy with what she's done. She's the role model in all this, I hope she enjoyed watching that."

After the tears had passed, Wilby reflected on the race.

"I am disappointed," said the 27-year-old. "It was a pretty strong race, physically and mentally. It is what it is.

"Unfortunately, those guys had a really good race and they put in a good show. They deserve the results they got. I'm just really disappointed that I wasn't able to be up there with them and challenging for those medals."