Tom Daley will seek to end his extraordinary career with a fifth Olympic medal this summer after being selected for Team GB’s synchronised diving squad for the Paris Games.
The 29-year-old, who only came out of retirement last July after his five-year-old son Robbie told him: “Papa, I want to see you dive at the Olympics,” will partner Noah Williams as he seeks to defend his 10-metre synchro diving title he won with Matty Lee in Tokyo.
Daley, who will become the first British diver to compete at a fifth Olympics after starting as a 14-year-old in Beijing in 2008, has also won individual bronze medals in the 10m platform at London 2012 and Tokyo 2020, as well a bronze in the 10m synchro in Rio 2016.
Daley, who now lives in Los Angeles with his screenwriter husband, Dustin Lance Black, told the Guardian earlier this year that he had returned to the sport determined to succeed in Paris.
“Of course I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to win another medal,” he said. “I mean, it’s in my nature. I’m going to give it everything that I’ve got.”
Team GB’s chef de mission, Mark England, paid tribute to Daley as he hailed the quality of the eight-strong British synchro team for Paris.
“All four pairs have proven that they can challenge for podium places on the world stage, and it is fantastic to see the calibre of diving athletes getting stronger and stronger with each Games,” he said. “Congratulations to Tom in particular who becomes the first British diver to compete at five Olympic Games, a remarkable achievement.”
The three other pairs are made up of recent world bronze medallists Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen in the women’s 3m synchro, as well as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson, who have won multiple world medals in the women’s 10m synchro.
Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher, who have won two world championship silvers as well as European and Commonwealth titles together over the past two years, will compete in the men’s 3m synchro.
The Aquatics GB’s associate performance director, Tim Jones, said his team was hoping to capitalise on the strong foundations that had been built on since the Tokyo Games three years’ ago.
“We put in performances at last year’s world championships in Fukuoka and this year’s event in Doha that ensured GB will have a full cohort of synchro pairings involved across the programme in Paris,” he said.
“And we know that, on the back of those performances, plus more recent results at top-level international competitions and the work that we see going in day in and day out in training, that each pair will be pushing for podium contention in the summer.”
