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Tom Daley gazed up after completing the set of Olympic medals with a fabulous silver alongside Noah Williams in the men’s synchronised 10m platform. But then came a surprise; a juice cup launched from above in his direction. It was his adorable son Phoenix, revelling in his father’s latest glorious Olympic moment, tossing down his cup in pure excitement as reporters scattered.
It was a moment to justify Daley’s decision to return for Paris 2024 on a glorious Monday in the city, a silver medal was wonderful, but forging memories alongside his young family proved extra special. In his fifth Olympics, Daley and Williams were only beaten by the “flawless” Chinese duo of Junjie Lian and Hao Yang. His medal collection now expands to five following that famous gold in Tokyo and three more bronze medals.
The bubbly Daley was back, yet an hour earlier, he was soaking in his final Olympic dive before an exciting switch to broadcast duties with Eurosport in Paris. The 30-year-old displayed a fierce intensity.
Clasping his trademark rainbow towel, the Pride shammy giving greater visibility to LGBTQ athletes and the millions watching around the world, Daley soaked in the final seconds, not knowing if it would be his last dive at the Olympics. He brushed his limbs and twirled the cloth around before a slow march to the top of the 10m platform.
The pair delivered a forward tuck with four-and-a-half somersaults; an explosive dive executed supremely with a crisp entry into the water from both at the Aquatics Centre. The hushed silence before was replaced by a roar with the dizzying 93.24 points enough to clinch a silver medal. If Daley had bemoaned an absence of “razzmatazz” three years ago in Tokyo, that hollow feeling without support due to the Covid pandemic was replaced by a raucous atmosphere here.
The intensity of diving captivates an audience every four years, but the synchro events deliver straight-up finals in a hurry. Six dives, 45 minutes and minimal margin for error. It was the Chinese pair’s gold medal to lose. Gold or bust. Daley knew it was “possible” though, but lightning did not strike twice as China put on a clinical display, breaking 100 points with their final dive and over 490 points overall. Too good.
“We were there if China faltered,” Daley conceded, with Team GB on 463.44 points to bronze medalists Canada on 422.13 points. “But they were flawless today. To be in front of my family and kids, I know at any moment you can get injured and not compete, I didn’t want to believe I’d make a fifth Games until I completed training; to get here in one piece was amazing.”
This showman, whose infectious personality has been embraced and clenched warmly by the British public throughout the last 16 years, since the 14-year-old Daley first dared to be great at Beijing 2008. A little battered and bruised, according to coach Jane Figueiredo, Daley has carefully built a new life with husband Dustin Lance Black and sons Phoenix and Robbie, away from the intensity of the British camp.
“Being there with my kids was the gold medal,” Daley admitted. “They were stood above the mixed zone doing interviews. Phoenix threw his juice cup at me in excitement, it nearly took out one of the reporters, it was so nice to have them there to share it. Robbie is excited as he wrote in his journal at school about the Eiffel Tower in the middle of the medal.”
Beyond Andy Murray, it is Daley whose influence perhaps stretches furthest in Team GB. The flagbearer from a drenched opening ceremony, he found humour in posing alongside Helen Glover to recreate the iconic Titanic scene on the River Seine. His passion for knitting, too, has thrilled his millions of followers on social media.
And his fan club, complete with ‘Team Daley’ t-shirts, had arrived early for what might be the final chapter of a glittering Olympic career, soaking up the blazing sun in Saint-Denis. Led by Daley’s Grandma, attending her fifth Games, confidence was high after being lured back to the sport at the request of one of his young sons and a complex arrangement with Williams, given his new home in Los Angeles and his partner’s London residence.
“I was told, ‘Don’t come back if Matty and Noah win a medal at the World Championships,’ but they didn’t, so I tried to come back. I did some synchro with Matty [Lee], some with Noah, but Matty got injured,” Daley added.
“If we got a medal at the world championships, that would be the team. November was the first time we did synchro together and we got maybe two months of training together in total, because I live in LA and he lives in London, we’d only train at competitions and turn up and wing it.
“It’s not how you’d normally do it, but I wasn’t planning on coming back, I was in LA because my husband’s work is out there. I was training at UCLA, which was incredible, training away from the intensity of the national programme. It was a challenge, but it worked in our favour.”
Daley may not have prevented China from claiming a clean sweep of eight diving golds again, which now appears inevitable. But, alongside Williams, who hails Daley as his hero, the last year has been made possible not by harder work, but smarter work.
“As an athlete, you know to train smarter. You have to prioritise things in your life, not just diving,” Daley concluded.
“I was getting emotional just getting prepared for this. My husband has really been there, he’s taken the kids allowing me to travel when I’ve needed to. A happy athlete is a successful one.”
