timeOm Daley is only 30 years old, but it feels like he will always be a part of our sporting lives. Britain’s most successful diver has gone from prodigy to legend at five consecutive Olympics. Here’s how The Guardian has followed Daley’s journey over the years.
Beijing 2008: Debut and rowing with teammates
Daley made his highly anticipated Olympic debut in 2008 in Beijing.
Richard Williams reports on Daley and his partner Blake Aldridge falling last in the 10m synchronized diving final. “Cracks appeared in the glossy, happy veneer of a collaboration that had always looked dangerously uneven,” Williams wrote.
Aldridge told reporters: “My game hasn’t been at its peak, but today I dived past Thomas, which is not something that usually happens… Before the last dive, when we were sitting down, he attacked me. . I saw my mom in the audience and I asked her to call me and Tom came up to me and said, ‘Why are you calling? We’re still in the game, we have another dive to do.’ S: He was so nervous, that’s what happened today. Thomas shouldn’t be worried about what I’m doing, but today he was worried about everyone and everything, and to me that’s really the only reason why he didn’t perform today.
A few days later, Daley’s condition improved. With Prime Minister Gordon Brown and triple gold medalist Chris Hoy looking on, Daley finished seventh in the men’s 10m platform event, becoming the highest-ranked Briton in the pool. “Winning a diving medal in Beijing was always going to be a huge leap for Tom Daley, but the youngster can still fly home happily,” our reporter Robert Kitson wrote. “Finishing seventh in the world in the highly competitive men’s 10m platform event at the age of 14 was a major achievement and he had some great stories to tell his classmates. These Olympics were a springboard to London 2012, where fame Already beckoning to us.
London 2012: Homegrown bronze medal
Daley competed at the 2012 London Olympics as Team GB’s poster boy. In front of a jubilant home crowd of 17,000, the 18-year-old put in a gutsy performance in the 10m dive to claim the first Olympic medal of his young career and become the first to do so. British podium since 1960.
Daley won the bronze medal with a score of 556.95, trailing only champion David Boudia and runner-up Qiu Bo.
It represented a career high for Daley, who finished seventh in Beijing and lost his father Robert to brain cancer the year before. “I’m very happy,” he said. “I really, really wish my dad was here to see this.”
Rio 2016: Goodfellow’s redemption
Daley, now an international icon, ended the shadow of his past when he finally won a medal in the 10m platform synchronized diving with partner Dan Goodfellow after defeats in Beijing and London.
After five rounds of fierce competition for third place, the two completed a difficult three-and-a-half-week backflip body competition and won the bronze medal with 89.64 points, far exceeding the 83.62 points they needed.
The duo, who were battling for third place with Germany’s Patrick Haustin and Sascha Klein, beat them to the gold medal at the European Championships at the London Swimming Center in May, with Goodfellow making the final jump. Over rotation.
“We don’t want this to happen again. I said to Dan afterwards: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get them in the Olympics.’ “We did it,” Dailey said.
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Taking the podium means the 22-year-old becomes the first British diver to win multiple Olympic medals.
Tokyo 2020: Gold medal dreams in postponed Olympics
Perhaps the biggest moment of Daley’s career came when he finally won the gold medal in the men’s synchronized 10m platform diving with partner Matty Lee.
The British team defeated the defending world champion Chinese team Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen by 1.23 points to win the game. The win was the crowning moment of an illustrious career for the 26-year-old, which culminated with gold and bronze medals.
“He remains a paradox, a child prodigy who grew up to be a celebrity pressure magnet, competing in a more cutting-edge discipline, and whose superpower was, as a calm and well-adjusted person,” wrote Barney of The Guardian · Ronai. “How exactly do you do that? Can everyone have some?
When Daley and Lee stood together on the podium to listen to the national anthem, Daley had a pair of moist eyes above his mask, and both looked exhausted but in a good mood.
Daly also won a bronze medal in the men’s 10m platform diving individual event. “Right before my first dive, I looked around and thought, ‘You know what, I’m watching the Olympics and this is so cool.'”
Paris 2024: Win silver medal
At this final Olympics, Daley added the final touch to his illustrious career by winning his first silver medal in the 10m synchronized diving event. He completed the Olympics in Paris with diving partner Noah Williams and won a medal. “There may have been another athlete who spoke at length about the extraordinary support his husband (or indeed his wife) had given him to put his career on hold to juggle childcare and family life,” Ronay wrote. Just like Daley did here but not a single one came to mind.
