Tom Daley has decided to end his diving career after winning silver in Paris and said he will not compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Daly, 30, said in a new interview that she knew going into the 10-meter synchro event that her fifth Olympic appearance would be her last, in which Daly and diving partner Noah Williams placed second.
This now decides the colour of the medal for synchro, joining the bronze medal from Rio 2016 and the gold medal from Tokyo 2020. Daly has won two bronze medals in the 10m individual platform at London 2012 and Tokyo.
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In Paris, Daly and Williams’ sixth dive was one of their strongest performances, earning them 93.24 points and comfortably securing second place behind the overwhelming winners, Yang Hao and Lian Junjie of China.
“It was emotional standing on the platform at the end and knowing that it was going to be my last competitive dive,” Daly said. British Vogue.
“But at some point a decision has to be made and I feel like now is the time. Today is the right time to put an end to this.”
Mr Daly spoke to the BBC on Monday after disembarking from the Eurostar and flying home.
“It’s always hard saying goodbye to your sport,” he told the BBC in a tearful three-minute interview. “There’s a lot to process.”
Daly’s silver medal win in Paris was made even more special by having her husband, Dustin Lance Black, and their two sons, Robbie and Phoenix, in the Aquatics Center, and Daly said seeing them in the stands as she came out of the arena made her feel “happy” no matter the outcome.
Falling in love with Black in 2013 changed Daly’s life. That year, newspapers reported that Daly had said he wasn’t gay, so in December, Daly posted a coming-out video on YouTube, explaining that he wasn’t ready to call himself gay. To date, the video has been viewed more than 13 million times.
Daly and Black soon went public with their relationship, and by April 2014, Daly had confidently identified himself as gay. Having competed in the Rio, Tokyo, and Paris Olympics and become an increasingly vocal advocate for LGBTQ rights globally, Daly was a relative rarity, especially among male athletes.
“Every time there’s an Olympics, there are more athletes who come out, which is powerful,” Daly told Vogue. That’s reflected in Outsports’ coverage of at least 195 LGBTQ team members in recent weeks. The Paris 2024 team is the most successful in Olympic history, with the most medals, including gold. Nearly a third of LGBTQ team athletes have brought home gold, silver or bronze medals.
He added that all 195 participants deserve credit for their courage in remaining visible despite facing intense scrutiny, stigma and abuse on social media.
“There’s a lot of pressure to be an activist and speak out, and sometimes that’s not in character for some people,” he says.
“I think that’s probably part of the reason why a lot of people have been resistant to coming out.
“I also [the world of sport] It’s a very hetero-centric space… A lot of queer kids don’t pursue sports when they’re younger because they automatically feel like they’re not cut out for it. I hope that in the future we’ll see more queer kids.”
Besides his duties as a father, Daly has dreams of a career in media and is currently taking sewing classes at the Los Angeles-based Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM).
He’s been drawn back to diving even when he thought he might have retired, most recently after a visit to the Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs, where Robbie’s desire to see “Dad” dive live at the Olympics encouraged him to get serious about putting on the diving pants again.
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But this time, he seems convinced he’s spent the whole amount.
“It’s going to be tough, and it’s going to be a big adjustment figuring out how to structure your day,” he added.
Daly, Britain’s most successful diver and 11th on the all-time British medallist list, says above all he is “incredibly proud… and satisfied”.
“I want people to remember me as someone who was persistent and never gave up until my dreams came true.”
Source: Outsports – www.outsports.com
