Diving boards at a north London pool have been given a £50,000 makeover and unveiled in the wake of diver Tom Daley’s success at the Paris Olympics.
Daley, 30, won his fifth Olympic medal on Monday, netting the silver with Noah Williams in the men's synchronised 10m platform. He also previously won a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 event.
Council officials in Haringey, north London, have now unveiled newly-revamped diving boards at the Park Road Pools and Fitness leisure centre - saying they hoped it would help young people tread Daley’s medal-winning path.
Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Emily Arkell, said: “It’s a really great opportunity for our children and young people to learn to dive in the pools.
“The Olympics are happening right now and over the next few weeks and we hope that lots of young people will be inspired by Tom Daley and his GB diving team-mates in Paris and that they’ll take up the opportunity here in Parks Road Pools to learn to dive.
“Maybe, one day, they’ll be part of the GB diving team that we’ll be supporting at the Olympics in the future!”
Diving enthusiasts in the borough said that with so few diving facilities remaining in the capital, the refurbishment would help guarantee the future success of the grassroots sport.
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Haringey Aquatics Club chairman David Skinner said: “With so few diving facilities remaining in London, the importance of the refurbishment work cannot be understated in terms of promoting access and opportunity at a grassroots level.”
Team GB were continuing to gather medal momentum on the fifth day of the Paris Olympics on Wednesday after Lewisham local Alex Yee scored gold in the triathlon.
Around 15 minutes after Yee's success, Great Britain's women's quadruple sculls crew - featuring Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, Georgie Brayshaw and Lauren Henry - claimed gold in a dramatic race to the line with the Netherlands.
Earlier on Wednesday, Beth Potter won bronze in the women's individual triathlon, and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson also came third in the women's synchronised 10m platform dive.
So far, Team GB have hauled in a total of 17 medals across a variety of sports - including six golds, six silvers and five bronzes.
