Tom Daley: “You go to the Olympics to win!”

It may seem a bit extreme to put it like this, but Thomas (Tom) Daley is an ambitious athlete. He likes to be first, to get the gold. “You can’t go to the Olympics unless you want to win. If not, what’s the point?” asks the British superstar after getting the 10m synchro silver medal on Day 1 of the FINA/NVC Diving World Series in Windsor (CAN). Diving with teammate Daniel Goodfellow, he was satisfied with his performance: “Given my recent injury in back and neck, we were OK today. We were only five points out of our personal best in this event. I’m confident for the individual 10m on Sunday”, said Daley.

After the preliminaries this morning, the 21-year-old champion was right to be optimistic, as he easily finished second of the semi-final, behind Qiu Bo (CHN, 2015 world champion) and in front of David Boudia (USA, 2012 Olympic winner). In everyone’s mind remained the superb 109C (forward 4 ½ somersaults, tuck) from Daley, getting one perfect 10 from the judges. The afternoon’s final promises to be thrilling…

If diving fans were to be asked about the main star of this discipline, a majority of them would point out Tom Daley. Many times referred as a “poster boy” of this sport – in Dubai (UAE), during the second leg of the World Series, this was literally true, as the image of Daley was the main way to promote the event throughout the city -, this Plymouth native is ready to compete at his third Games, in Rio.

“The Olympic preparation is a long one, it’s four years in the making. It’s not happening overnight, we have lots of steps before that. We are now here in Windsor, next week we have Kazan [the fourth and last meet of the World Series, in Russia], then the European Championships, and then our Nationals. We have a lot of competitions before Rio, but it’s an exciting time”, confesses Daley during a short interview with FINA.

His first Olympic experience happened when he was still 14, in 2008. As one of the youngest competitors of the entire Games in Beijing (CHN), Daley arrived in the Chinese capital already labelled as a “diving prodigy”. Earlier in January that year, still at 13 – he was born on May 21, 1994 – he had been the youngest ever British champion in the 10m platform. Two months later, he earns gold at the European Championships. In the “Water Cube”, he finishes eighth in the synchronised event (with Blake Aldridge) and seventh in the individual final. The legend was born.

Since then, it has been an accumulation of successes, glorious moments, TV appearances, prizes and awards, public exposure, and some challenging personal moments. At the Rome 2009 FINA World Championships, he was on the headlines, after getting his first world title, at only 15. In 2010, in the inaugural edition of the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing (CHN), he declares: “A couple of years ago, I was really the rookie of the team. Now, I almost feel like a veteran amongst this group of young athletes”. Daley was 16 and could only take part in the 3m springboard competition (ninth), following a triceps muscle injury. 2011 was a difficult year for Daley: in May 2011, he loses his father and doesn’t reach the podium at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai (CHN), finishing fifth in the individual 10m platform.

Comes 2012 and the Olympic Games in London. Exactly one year before the Opening Ceremony, on July 27, 2011, Daley had been chosen to inaugurate the superb Aquatics Centre and once there to compete, he had a difficult start. In the synchronised event, pairing with Peter Waterfield, he can’t make it to the podium (the duo finished fourth), but on August 11, the last competition evening of the Games, his performance was a kind of consolation for the British Aquatics delegation, with an overall poor performance at the home Games.

The final was however spectacular. Before the last round, Daley (who was exceptionally authorised to repeat his first dive, after being distracted by the flashes of the photo cameras in the stands) was leading in 466.20, while David Boudia and Qiu Bo were tied in second with 466.05. The British star then performs a DD 3.3 dive, while his two main opponents choose the same DD 3.6 (back, 2 ½ somersaults, 2 ½ twists). Boudia, the 18th and last qualifier from the preliminaries, does the dive of his life, amassing 102.60 points, the highest score of the final, against 100.80 for Qiu. The gold went to the US star, Qiu got silver and Daley had to content with the bronze. The Aquatics Centre almost came down, the British idol had his Olympic medal!

A recurrent problem in his triceps muscle dictates Daley’s sixth place at the 2013 Barcelona World Championships, but Kazan 2015 is much better, with a bronze in the individual event, and a gold in the first-ever Team Event in the programme of FINA’s showcase. “There is always pressure to get a medal in Rio. I am the first one putting pressure on myself. Like all those competing there”, admits Daley in Windsor.

Given the unpredictability of the men’s 10m platform event in Brazil, the British great is serene: “Anything can happen in the Olympic Games in that competition [10m]. And that’s what you have to remember: it’s not over until the very last dive is done!”