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Tom Daley has announced his retirement from diving at the age of 30 after the Paris Olympics.
Daley announced his decision on Monday to British Vogue before giving an emotional interview with the BBC as he returned to London following the end of the Games in France.
Paris 2024 was Daley’s fifth Olympics in total, winning silver alongside Noah Williams in the men’s 10-metre synchronised platform event.
He had previously stepped away from diving after the delayed 2021 Games in Tokyo, where his long wait for Olympic gold was finally ended alongside Matty Lee.
However, Daley had been persuaded to return to the sport in the run-up to Paris, where he medalled again in partnership with Williams, with husband Dustin Lance Black and sons Robbie and Phoenix all watching on from the stands.
He had initially hinted that he could yet go on to a sixth Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles, where he now lives with his family.
However, Daley has now confirmed that he already knew that the Paris Games would be his last.
"It feels very, very surreal,” Daley said. "I felt so incredibly nervous going into this, knowing it was my last Olympics.
"There was a lot of pressure and expectations. I was eager for it to be done.
"But when I walked out, and saw my husband and kids and my friends and family in the audience, I was like, you know what? This is exactly why I did this.
"It was emotional at the end, up there on the platform, knowing it was going to be my last competitive dive.
"But I have to make the decision at some point, and it feels like the right time. It's the right time to call it a day."
Daley is the most decorated diver in British history, having also won individual Olympic 10m platform bronze medals at both Tokyo 2020 and London 2012, in addition to another synchro bronze with Daniel Goodfellow in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
In addition to his Olympic medals, Daley also won four world titles across individual and team events plus five European Championship titles and five Commonwealth Games medals including four golds in Delhi, Glasgow and the Gold Coast.
A former two-time junior world champion, Daley became the second-youngest Olympian in British history when he appeared at the 2008 Games in Beijing aged just 14 and three months.
He went on to become one of the poster athletes for the Olympics on home soil four years later and has been one of the most high-profile and popular performers for Team GB at five successive Games.
