by Daley, Tom
But I didn’t always have my close friends with me and I became more and more worried about being physically hurt. When the boys kept saying, ‘I’ll break your legs,’ I got more worried that they were deliberately trying to hurt me. If I was badly injured it would have a major knock-on effect on my diving. I just could not let that happen, but I felt so powerless.
One day, we were on the field at lunchtime because it was so sunny, and as soon as the bell went I stood up and immediately was tackled by a fairly big guy and landed awkwardly on my wrist. It swelled up and it was really sore to touch. I wasn’t allowed to land hands first during my diving for five days and I started to worry about competitions.
‘I can’t do it. I don’t want to be there, I can’t go back,’ I told Mum and Dad. And it was then that they made the decision to pull me out of school. They were furious and felt that despite the promises, the problems were not being dealt with by the school.
I had a couple of days left before the Easter holidays and then went on a training camp and then on to the FINA Grand Prix in Florida. Knowing that I wasn’t going back, I instantly felt calm and more relaxed and it was evident in my diving. It was an outdoor competition and I enjoy being outside. Other divers find diving in the open air harder – because as well as spotting the water, you need to spot the sky and it can become confusing. It’s always quite hard to tell the difference between the water and the sky. Normally they will have jet sprays going across the water, which helps you spot the difference because the water is constantly moving. The Chinese divers in particular do not do as well outside because they do so many repetitions indoors that when they get outside it feels too different.
My grandparents, Jenny and Doug, had been on holiday in Florida and they came to watch and brought some friends. In recent years we have started calling Grandma Jenny ‘Jenny Wrinkles’. Meeting them on the poolside, one of the friends asked if I thought I could win.
‘No way,’ I replied, convinced I didn’t stand a chance against the tough competition.
However, it was my day and I beat Sascha Klein and Zhou Luxin to the gold medal. My score was 554.90 and my backward three and a half somersaults got 10s across the board. It was the fifth time that year I had beaten my previous personal best. I felt fantastic and, better than that, I still felt that there was more to come.
During half-term and on the day of my fifteenth birthday, we were invited back to Seaworld, where I opened a new ride, the Manta ride, a rollercoaster where after being strapped into the seat and tilted forwards, so you are going head first, it climbed to the dizzy heights of 140ft before soaring down again, where we were sprayed by water – it really felt like I was flying, it was incredible. The sensation of falling through the air was actually a bit like diving. In the evening we had a special meal at the Rainforest Café.
I know my parents considered a number of options for my schooling, including home schooling. Because of the press and the fact people knew about the problems I was having at Eggbuckland, there were various offers from other schools. When I arrived home from Florida my parents told me that we were going on a tour around Plymouth College because I had been offered a scholarship there. I loved it. The ancient buildings were like something out of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts and they had loads of athletes there. They told me that the school was geared towards elite sport. They had loads of swimmers there, including Cassie Pattern, who had won a bronze at Beijing. They told me that they could gear my academic programme around my diving and be completely flexible, which was a dream.
Having to make the decision to leave Eggbuckland was one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make. I met up with my schoolfriends and got really upset because I was worried I would never see them again. They told me to grab the opportunity with both hands.
As soon as I went to Plymouth College I decided it should be a new start. The environment was totally different. Everyone there obviously really wanted to learn and be there, rather than mess around and have fun. I was so grateful for the scholarship, and was determined to do my best.
I was horribly nervous on my first day but I needn’t have been because I slotted in immediately and made new friends quickly. I found it much easier to make male friends there. At Eggbuckland, I found it far more difficult to make male friends because they didn’t seem as fun and easy-going as the girls. But at Plymouth College there are a group of guys I now hang around with, like the swimmers Joe Patching, Aaron Rickhuss and Jordan Sharples. They really understood how hard it is to balance training with schoolwork. I finally felt that I could be anonymous, and had it not been for the school I know I would not have done so well academically, or in my diving. I will always be grateful for that opportunity.
As soon as I started I had ten days to learn the whole syllabus for a science GCSE exam, but the teachers were brilliant and gave me one-to-one tuition and got me up to speed very quickly. At the end of June, my new school held an activity week and I had a great time trying some new sports like surfing, kayaking, sailing and mountain biking. At the end of that year I signed a contract to say I would not do any extreme sports, in case of injury.
I finished school for the year on 3 July and the next day I had synchronized diving training with my new diving partner, Max. The first day was in Plymouth and the next was in Southampton. Training was going well, and with just a few weeks until the World Championships we needed to put the hours in. This was when I decided to do no media so I could focus solely on my diving. I was training twice a day for about five hours. I also went to watch my brother Ben in his school play, The Wizard of Oz. He was in the choir. I always try to support my brothers as much as they support me.
Being Crowned World Champ
‘BEING WITH THE TEAM IS ALWAYS FUN AND DURING THAT TRIP THE SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMERS TAUGHT US A ROUTINE IN OUR DOWNTIME.’
My Rome adventure started on the 10 July when I flew to Italy for a ten-day training camp before the competition. The weather was glorious – there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I have always dived better outside – Andy jokes that I am solar-powered! I always feel better and dive better when I have a tan.
Being with the team is always fun and during that trip the synchronized swimmers taught us a routine in our downtime.
DIVING IS QUITE A BIG SPORT IN ITALY AND THE STANDS AT THE FORO ITALICO WHERE WE WERE COMPETING WERE PACKED OUT. THEY WERE CHEERING ME TOO, WHICH FELT REALLY GOOD. I ENDED UP COMING FIFTH IN THE PRELIMS, WHICH WAS QUITE GOOD CONSIDERING I THOUGHT I WASN’T DIVING VERY WELL.
The semi-final kicked off at 10 a.m. the next morning. I hate mornings but I knew I needed to get into the top twelve. I started to step up a level and came away in third place. I knew I would need to execute my whole list almost perfectly to get a medal because my tariff was still lower than all the other divers. My hope was that I would dive well and put pressure on them, and they would then make mistakes. After Fort Lauderdale I felt really confident – but I still didn’t think I would get anywhere near the top of the leaderboard.
I scored 8s for my first dive; it wasn’t bad but I knew I needed to get a cleaner entry. My second dive was the front three and a half. I can remember taking off and thinking, ‘I need to go for it’. I got my entry and was rewarded with 9s and 9.5s, so I was very happy with that. The next one was my inward three and a half tuck, which is one of my weaker dives, but I scored 9s on it. It was good but I jumped quite far away from the board, which lost me marks. I saw the rankings on the board halfway.
I was in fourth place but one point off the medals and knew I could pull myself back up.
I HAD MY ARMSTAND BACK TRIPLE TUCK NEXT, AND WHEN I WAS IN MY HANDSTAND I TALKED MYSELF THROUGH IT, COUNTING ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’, THEN WENT. I WAS DETERMINED TO BE REALLY PRECISE SO THE JUDGES COULD SEE HOW HARD I WAS TRYING. AS I LANDED, I VACUUMED THE WATER DOWN WITH ME AND WAS AWARDED WITH A 10 AND 9.5S, BUT I WAS STILL 11 POINTS AWAY FROM THE MEDALS.
Then I had the back three and a half tuck, which is the dive I scored fla
t 10s on in America. I knew I needed to do an exact replica – and I did! I scored four tens, which gave me maximum marks. Suddenly I had overtaken Zhou Luxin and was in third place. I was seven points off Matt, who was in second and 12 points of Qiu, who was in the top spot.
I walked to the edge of the board. Zhou had gone before me and scored 9s. The board told me I needed a 9.2 average to be first. He was in fourth and I knew I needed to do something more than that to get ahead of the others. They were all doing the two and a half somersaults, two and a half twists – which had a higher tariff, 3.6, to my reverse three and a half somersaults, which was 3.4.
I was nervous but as my toes touched the end of the board, I thought, ‘Shit or bust, here I go.’ I counted to three, took a deep breath and threw every ounce of energy I had left into the dive. I was spinning round, willing myself to see every single point and then kicking out, everything pointed, straight and stretched.
As I hit the water I knew immediately that it was a great dive which would give me a medal. I was sucked under the surface of the pool.
I felt so happy it was as if I could fly. I could hear the muffled cheers and wolf whistles and I wanted to get to the surface as quickly as possible. I was so elated. I felt like I could walk on water.
Waiting for the scores to come up was painful – even though it was probably only three seconds. And then they were there.
9.5. 9.5 10 10 9.5 10 10
It was enough to give me a medal – and brought my total to 539.85.
‘Yes! I’ve got a World Championship medal,’ I yelled, hugging Andy. Everyone was congratulating me on poolside and Tonia and the rest of the team were jumping up and down. It was such an unbelievable feeling.
Gemma Field, the media coordinator, led me towards the mixed zone to talk to the cameras.
‘Amazing. Well done, Tom, you’ve got a bronze,’ she said. As we started walking away I had my back to the pool and there was a collective gasp from the crowd. I spun round and saw that Matt had missed his dive and had gone over. Then the scores came up – there was a massive cheer – I was still in the lead. Amazing – a silver medal!
‘Let me watch this dive just in case,’ I said to Gemma.
‘OK, just in case,’ she laughed.
‘Well, it’s not going to happen again, is it,’ I smiled. Qiu only needed 8s to win the gold medal at that point – scores that he had exceeded in every dive up until then.
He took off, and as he spun round, he edged sideways and then landed with an almighty splash.
‘Oh my god, what is happening?’ I said. I could barely breathe – it was like I had been winded. It felt like an eternity as we waited for the scores to come up. I had my head in my hands. He got 7s and 7.5s.
THE ITALIANS WENT CRAZY. EVERYONE WAS CHEERING. IT WAS SUCH A SURREAL EXPERIENCE – IT WAS ALMOST LIKE IT WAS HAPPENING TO SOMEONE ELSE. I WAS STUNNED.
I felt completely dazed and suddenly I was face to face with an Italian lady doing a live TV interview. She started questioning me in Italian – I didn’t know what to say. The team came over and were giving me hugs. I just wanted to see my dad but it was chaotic. We went to get the medals and everyone was singing the National Anthem and the British flag went up above my head. I always thought I would cry if I became World Champion but I didn’t. My cheeks ached from smiling so much.
After that I went straight to the mixed zone and then to the press conference. After answering a few questions, I saw my dad coming in at the back and all of a sudden, I saw his hand go up.
‘What IS he doing?’ I thought, slightly alarmed.
‘I’d like to ask a question,’ he said.
‘Can you please tell me which publication you are from?’ the Italian compere asked.
‘I’m Tom’s dad. Tom, can you give me a cuddle?’
Typical Dad! I was so embarrassed but didn’t want to look like a heartless idiot, so shuffled over.
‘Come on, please, come on,’ he said, seeing my blushes.
I gave him a massive cuddle and he wrapped his flag around me. He was sobbing.
The surrounding journalists had burst into a spontaneous round of applause.
‘Dad’s amazing – he takes me to training every day. But this is embarrassing!’ I added.
‘No, it’s not!’
‘Yes it is, Dad, oh God … I’ll see you later,’ I told him, before walking back to the front. My cheeks were burning.
After that there were reports about him being pushy. Anyone who knew Dad knows what he was like. He used to say, ‘I taught him how to ride a bike; I changed his nappies. What father would not go in and see his son when he’d just been crowned World Champion?’
Everyone made out that it was as if he’d tied up the security guard, scaled the fence and tunnelled in – but actually he’d just come to find me, and stumbled across the room. He could not understand that everyone else got to say well done to me before he did. It was his emotions coming out; he was just happy for me. I then knew to ring him first before I did anything else. Mum was equally happy watching at home; apparently the neighbours saw her jumping up and down on the sofa! She said it was like fifty Christmases as a child rolled into one.
A completely surreal moment – I didn’t expect to, but winning was mind-blowing.
All the team were so good to me after my win, the first thing Max said to me was: ‘I’m going to be standing next to a World Champion.’ My phone didn’t stop ringing and I had to do lots of interviews. I didn’t care because I felt I could speak about the experience forever.
The following morning, as I opened my eyes, I was convinced I had been dreaming. I didn’t want to let myself think I had actually won because I really wasn’t sure whether it was real. Stepping out of my room, I immediately saw Tonia and Brooke.
‘Hey World Champion,’ they chorused. And then I felt amazing.
Three days after that we had our synchro event. I found it quite difficult coming off the high from earlier in the week and focusing on competing again – normally the synchro is before the individual.
We made it through to the final, but were inconsistent, and after a particularly bad third dive, which dropped us down to last, we ended up in ninth place. We were not disappointed, we just knew we needed to be more consistent. It still felt like a relatively new partnership and we had scored high points for one of the dives, which hopefully showed we had potential together.
Going home is always good. I was looking forward to flopping on the sofa and catching up with my friends. Walking into the house, I saw the kitchen door was shut, which was strange as it was always open.
‘Why is the door shut, Mum?’
‘William’s probably in there eating something he shouldn’t,’ she said.
As I opened the door, everyone shouted, ‘Surprise!’ I was really shocked. All my friends from school, Andy, Tonia and Brooke, and all the family had come. We toasted my success. I still could not quite believe I was World Champion at fifteen. My Aunty Marie had baked me a cake in the shape of a gold medal, which was cool. Plymouth was also celebrating and a couple of days later a civic reception with the Lord Mayor was held and I was taken around the town on an open-top bus and along the Royal Parade with everyone cheering. Nikita and Sophie were getting the bus into town in front of me, waving and pulling stupid faces. Highlights of the event were shown on the enormous screen and I did a short interview. It felt really good that I had put my city on the map. I was also given a gold Blue Peter badge for exceptional achievements. David Beckham, J. K. Rowling and the Queen have them too, apparently.
August was a slightly calmer month for me and we are always given a few weeks off from training after the competition season has finished. I opened a new Adidas store before doing the family holiday to Alicante in Spain. We were there for two weeks and it was great to spend some time with my mum, dad and brothers. The weather was fantastic so I was able to play in the sea and pool with my brothers. This time was needed after all the excitement of the World
Diving Championships.
After my success in Italy, I was told that an Italian magazine wanted to shoot me for a feature on British stars.
‘I’m going to do a photoshoot,’ I told Tonia and Brooke, during one of our daily training sessions.
‘Who for?’
‘Vogu,’ I said, ‘or something stupid like that.’
‘What?’
‘Yeah, Vog.’
‘Do you mean Vogue?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Oh my god.’
‘And it’s with Kate Moss!’
‘What?!’
The theme of the shoot was learning to swim. We shot it at the rundown Queen Mother’s Sports Centre near Victoria station in London, and Bruce Weber was shooting it. It was the first time I’d been shot by such a big-name photographer. I was doing a photography GCSE so I had studied his work and could not wait to see a snapper like him in action. I got there first and Kate came out to the pool and said, ‘Hi, Tom!’ She’s got a real South London voice.
‘Well done in the Olympics. It was great. We were watching you.’ ‘Thanks.’ I was somewhat tongue-tied.
I could not believe she knew my name but figured she might just have been told it.
When I first saw her, she didn’t really look like I thought she was going to, like she would not particularly stand out in a crowd. Then as soon as she got made up, she looked incredible.
She was so lovely. Everything you read about her not being nice isn’t true. She had so much time for everyone, from the make-up girls to the guy doing the lighting. She was really interested in my diving.