Celebrity
14 Photos of Tom Daley’s Tearful Olympics Victory
After 13 years of trying, the 27-year-old diving star just won his first-ever gold medal at his fourth Olympics.
On July 26, Tom Daley and his diving partner Matty Lee made history by winning a gold medal for Great Britain in the 10-meter synchronized diving platform event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in Japan.
“I still can’t honestly believe what is happening,” Daley said in a statement. “That moment, being about to be announced as Olympic champions, I was gone. I was blubbering."
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“I thought I was going to win an Olympic gold medal in Rio, and that turned out the complete opposite by a long shot,” Daley said. “It was my husband who said to me that my story wasn't finished, and my son or child — we didn’t know at the time — needed to be there to watch me win an Olympic gold medal.”
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“The fact that I can say that my son watched me become Olympic champion — albeit on TV and they couldn’t be here — is just, it’s such a great feeling,” Daley told CNN. “And to be able to do [it] with your best mate as well and to share that moment where you’re at the back of the podium.”
Since their partnership, the duo has gone on to win gold medals at the 2021 Diving World Cup, the European Diving Championship, and now the Olympics.
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“I’ve dreamt, as has Matty, since I started diving 20 years ago, for this moment of becoming an Olympic champion,” he told CNN.
“To finally have this gold medal ... I’ve been diving for 20 years, it’s my fourth Olympic Games,” he added. “Lots of people would have counted me out, being the older person, but I’m in the best shape physically.”
“I feel incredibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion,” Daley told The Guardian. “When I was younger I didn’t think I’d ever achieve anything because of who I was. To be an Olympic champion now just shows that you can achieve anything.”
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“To be able to see out LGBT people performing at the Olympic Games, I hope [that] can give young kids hope and not feel so frightened and scared and alone,” Daley said to CNN. “To be able to see that no matter who you are, where you come from, you can become an Olympic champion, because I did."
“I hope that any young LGBT person out there can see that no matter how alone you feel right now, you are not alone,” he told NBC. “That you can achieve anything and that there is a whole lot of your chosen family out here, ready to support you.”