Tom Daley

Tom Daley on the Tokyo Olympics, fatherhood and husband Dustin Lance Black

Thirteen years after he first stood on an Olympic diving board, Tom Daley has come out as gay, lost his father, got married and become a parent. Now his sights are set on 20 seconds in Tokyo and his bid for a gold medal

Tom Daley, former world champion 10m diver, current World Series champion and gold medal hopeful at the Tokyo Olympics this summer, has a ritual before each of his death-defying dives. In the moments before he takes off for the 1.6 seconds that will make or break his chances of Olympic gold, he takes in the arena.

He notes the atmosphere; the thick, warm, charged air; the smell of chlorine; the rough texture of the non-slip surface beneath his feet; the smooth aluminium of the handrail; the lights and the peculiar acoustics; the crowd chatter, PA system, trickle of pool water into the drains. He acknowledges all of it and then takes ten deep breaths and makes it all disappear – pfff – so that when he re-engages, it is in his own muffled microworld, conscious only of his low heart rate, his name being announced, his legs as he climbs the last flight of steps to the 10m platform, the shrill peel of the official’s whistle followed by total silence.. …read the full article on the The Saturday Times Magazine