Tom Daley on triumph, trauma and his likely last shot at gold

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Few gay athletes have captured our attention longer than has Tom Daley. With the Tokyo Olympics set to get underway this week, this look back on on his career reminds us that there's much more to his very public life than diving.

From BBC Sport

Daley with his son Robbie and husband Dustin Lance Black - they were married in 2017

By Nick Hope, BBC Olympic sports reporter in Tokyo

The young boy facing the camera spoke with a smile, but everyone could see the steeliness in his eyes.

"I want to get to the Olympics and win a gold medal," Tom Daley told the BBC in 2005. He was holding a picture he'd made - a drawing of himself doing a handstand on the 10m diving platform at the London Games, then still seven years away.

"If I wasn't to win, it would drive me on to be at the next Olympics and get that medal then."

Daley was just 11 when he stated that mission. What he's achieved since - including becoming world champion at 15 and twice winning Olympic bronze - owes much to a remarkable resolve that's also helped overcome struggles away from the pool.

Growing up, he was bullied at school. In 2011, his father died at the age of 40. He feared the consequences of revealing his sexuality before coming out in 2013.

Daley is Britain's most decorated diver, but he possesses a level of fame that far transcends his discipline. He has become one of sport's highest-profile gay athletes, a role model for others in the LGBTQ+ community. He has suffered several media run-ins during the course of a life lived under the spotlight.

Now aged 27 and a father himself, he says he finds it "crazy" to see how "focused and obsessed" he was as a child.

"If my son was talking like that at the same age, I'd be like 'wow, calm down, take your time, enjoy it,'" he tells BBC Sport. "But clearly there was just something in me that wanted it so much."

Daley still wants that medal. And Tokyo - his fourth Olympics - arguably represents his last realistic chance to claim it. That same dream is still driving him today, but parenthood has given him a new perspective, on both triumph and trauma.

Daley lived and breathed for the Olympics. He vividly recalls the efforts he went to, as an 11-year-old, to watch the men's synchronised 10m platform final during Athens 2004, when Leon Taylor and Pete Waterfield won silver for Britain.

"We were on holiday in our caravan and everyone was going to the kids' clubs but I was determined to stay in and watch the diving so I was leaning out of the window with the aerial to try to get a better signal," he recalls while laughing.

Four years later, Daley was already gaining more attention than his "idols" ever had. He had qualified for Beijing 2008, aged 13, and cameras were trained on his every move.

He didn't challenge for medals in China, but the crowd loved watching the young teenager - cheering on 'baby Daley' throughout the event. A star was born. But back home, it wasn't all easy.

"Some people at my school were so happy for me, but others started being really horrible and I was bullied," he says.

"For a long time, I just kept quiet about it, but I bottled up so much that eventually I just couldn't train and it drained me so much mentally until I had nothing left.

"It got to a point where I was always embarrassed to talk about diving and I couldn't take a compliment, because whenever someone said something nice, I had this fear I was going to be mocked."

It left Daley wanting to be home schooled. Instead he was offered the chance to join Plymouth College towards the end of his first year of GCSEs, a month before the 2009 World Championships.

In Rome, the revitalised 15-year-old graduated from medal contender to fully grown champion.

While his landmark performance in the 10m platform was striking, what happened in the hour after was perhaps even more memorable. Daley rolls his eyes, but also smiles, when recalling the now infamous press conference.

"I remember seeing my dad sneak in with a BBC journalist and he had this beaming smile," he recalls.

"He put his hand up and said: 'I'm Rob, Tom's dad, and I want a cuddle.' I remember thinking: 'Oh my god...'"

In the footage, Daley can be heard muttering "dad, this is so embarrassing" as he gingerly makes his way around the media scrum to his father - and another hoard of cameras.

"I remember him saying: 'Tom I took you to all of your training sessions, taught you to ride a bike, I changed your nappies when you were a kid.' He said it was the proudest moment of his life to see his son become world champion.

"When I look back, it was a very special moment as we'd achieved it together, and now as a father myself, I completely understand why he was so emotional."

Continues with video

https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/57817424