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Tom Daley

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Tom Daley
Daley at the parade in London to celebrate the achievements of British competitors at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Personal information
Full nameThomas Robert Daley[1]
Height5'5 (as of early 2009)
Sport
Country United Kingdom
Event(s)10 m, 10 m synchro, 3 m
ClubPlymouth Diving Club
PartnerMax Brick
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Men's Diving
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2008 Eindhoven 10 metre platform
Junior World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2008 Aachen 10 metre platform (Cat. "B")
Silver medal – second place 2008 Aachen 3 metre springboard (Cat. "B")

Thomas Robert Daley (born 21 May 1994 in Plymouth, United Kingdom[2]) is a British diver, who specialises in the 10 metre platform event. He started diving at the age of seven, and is a member of Plymouth Diving Club. He has made an impact in national and international competition at an early age. He represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he was Britain's youngest competitor, the youngest competitor of any nationality outside of the sport of swimming, and the youngest to participate in a final.[3] In the first post-Beijing 2008 edition of the FINA World Diving Rankings for the ten-metre platform, he reached a new career best ranking of fourth.[4] He is also hoping to compete in the 2012 olympics.

Early career

Daley's early diving heroes were Canadian diver Alexandre Despatie, who won gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games at the age of 13,[2] and British diver Leon Taylor. His father and coach are his main support system.

Daley won his age-group at the British Championships in the 1 m springboard, the 3 m springboard, and platform in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

In June 2004, at age ten, he won the platform competition in the National Junior (under 18) group, making him the youngest winner of that event.

In 2005 he competed as a guest competitor in the Australian Elite Junior Nationals, and placed first in platform and second in 3 m springboard in the 14-15 age group event. He also competed in the 14-15 category at the 2005 Aachen Junior International, placing second in platform and third in 3 m springboard. He met the qualification standard for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but was not selected for the England team because of his age.[5] In 2006 he was the under-18 British champion in platform and springboard, and he placed second in the 10 m platform at the 2007 senior British Championships, which were held in December 2006.

International success

In January 2007, at the age of twelve, Daley was given a special dispensation to compete at the 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival. The usual minimum age is fifteen. Competing with a persistent thumb injury, Daley won the silver medal with synchro-partner Callum Johnstone in the 10-metre synchronised-diving final.

Later in 2007, he won the senior platform title at the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) National Championships, the national championship for English divers. That year he began to compete on FINA's international diving circuit of Grand Prix and World Series events, twice finishing fourth in individual competition.

In January 2008 he won the 10 m platform event at the British Championships to become the youngest winner of the senior British 10 m title.[6] He also won the 10 m platform synchro title with new partner Blake Aldridge.

Two weeks later he won his first medals on the FINA circuit, winning a bronze in the individual platform competition and a silver in synchro at the Madrid Grand Prix.[7] Daley and Aldridge won bronze in synchro at the 2008 FINA Diving World Cup. Their score was a British record, and Daley became the youngest-ever male medallist in a world diving event.[8] Daley came seventh in the individual competition. In March 2008, Daley became the youngest person to win a gold medal at the European Swimming Championships, held in Eindhoven.[9] The previous youngest winner was the Scottish swimmer Ian Black, who won a European gold in 1958 at the age of 17.

Daley qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in the individual 10 metre dive competition and, following the retirement of 2004 silver medallist Leon Taylor, in the 10 metre platform synchro competition. It was initially claimed by the British media that in competing he would become the youngest-ever male British Olympian,[10] but it was later realised that Ken Lester, cox to the rowing pair at the 1960 Olympic Games, was only 13 years and 144 days old at the time.[11] In the Olympic synchronised 10 metre platform competition, they placed 8th,[12] while in the individual 10 metre platform competition he finished 7th.[13]

A month after his appearance at the Olympics, Daley participated in the FINA Junior World Championships for the first time (being too young to enter before). He finished second in the category "B" platform competition (for 14- and 15-year-old boys) with 549.60 points, between China's Bo Qiu (551.85 points) and Dongliang Wu (474.00 points).[14] He was also second in the 3-metre springboard competition in the same category, with 485.25 points, between the two Chinese, Dongliang Wu (510.25 points) and Peng Wang (470.40 points).

Daley won the 2007 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Young Personality award. He is considered a medal prospect for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and is one of the British Olympians being tracked through the years leading up to London 2012 by the BBC television series Olympic Dreams. By April 2008 he was on British Diving's list of World Class Podium funded divers and he was the only under-eighteen diver on the scheme at that time. [1] Podium level is the top level of UK Sport's World Class Performance programme. [2]

In February 2009 he retained his individual British 10 m championship, setting a competition personal best score of 517.55 points, 133.45 points ahead of the second-placed diver. He was unable to defend his 10 m synchronised title, as his dive partner Blake Aldridge had been injured in a brawl several days before the championships and was unable to dive.[15][16] In March 2009 he improved his personal best to 540.70 in coming third at a Diving World Series event in China, [17] and the following month he improved it to 540.85 while finishing second at the World Series event in Sheffield. [18]

During the Olympics Daley had a row with diving partner Blake Aldridge when the latter phoned his mother between rounds. When Aldridge missed the British Championships because of an injury sustained in a nightclub incident, Daley's father said he'd liked his son to have a different diving partner. In April 2009 he started to dive with Max Brick, who is two years his senior, compared with the twelve year gap with Aldridge.[19] The pair achieved a silver medal in the 10m synchronised event at Fort Lauderdale on 8 May 2009.[20] Daley won the individual event in a new personal best of 554.90, scoring a perfect set of seven 10s for one of his dives. [21]

Competitive history

  • British champion in all events (1 m, 3 m, platform) in 2004, 2005 and 2006 in the relevant age group.
Competition 2005 2007 2008 2009
17th FINA Junior Diving World Championships, Aachen, 3 m ("B") 2nd
17th FINA Junior Diving World Championships, Aachen, Boys 10 m Platform ("B") 2nd
Beijing 2008 Olympics, 10 m 7th
Beijing 2008 Olympics, 10 m (synchro) 8th†
European Championships, 10 m 1st
British Championships, 10 m 1st 1st
British Championships, 10 m (synchro) 1st†
FINA Diving World Series, Changzhou, China, 10 m 3rd
FINA Diving World Series, Sheffield, 10 m 2nd 2nd
FINA Diving World Series, Sheffield, 10 m (synchro) 1st† 5th§
FINA Diving Grand Prix, Fort Lauderdale, 10 m 1st
FINA Diving Grand Prix, Fort Lauderdale, 10 m (synchro) 2nd§
ASA National Championships, 10 m 1st
ASA National Championships, 10 m (synchro) 1st
British Championships, 10 m (Junior) 1st
ASA National Championships, 10 m (Junior) 1st
ASA National Championships, 3 m (Junior) 1st
Australian Junior Elite Diving Championships 1st

†with Blake Aldridge
§with Max Brick

Bullying

At 13 Daley became a celebrity supporter of ChildLine, a children's helpline run by the NSPCC, and at that time it was revealed that he had been bullied eighteen months earlier. [22] In April 2009 Daley revealed to Plymouth's main local newspaper The Herald that he had been regularly bullied since the Olympics [23], and his father told the BBC that he had temporarily withdrawn him from his school, Eggbuckland Community College, because its response to the problem had been ineffective. [24] Daley was praised in the media for speaking out about the problem. [25] [26] Daley was promptly offered a full scholarship to board at independent school Brighton College, but his father turned this down due to the distance from home, and entered negotiations with local independent school Plymouth College, which had offered him a "very significant scholarship".[27] Plymouth College regularly offers swimming scholarships, and its ex-pupils include 2008 Olympic medallist Cassie Patten. [28]

Honours and awards

  • Named Youngster of the Year by BBC South West in 2005.[29]
  • Short-listed to the final ten for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award in 2006.
  • Named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year 2007.
  • Ranked #63 in Time's 2008 edition of 100 Olympic Athletes To Watch[30]
  • Short-listed to the final three for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award in 2008[31]

References

  1. ^ Lonsbrough, Anita (2008-02-25). "Diver Tom Daley, 13, to make Olympic history". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-08-29. When Thomas Robert Daley dives…
  2. ^ a b "Thomas Daley Biography". Olympics.org.uk. 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  3. ^ Beijing 2008 official site, Competition Information, Athletes and Teams, accessed 23 August 2008
  4. ^ "Fina Diving World Ranking".
  5. ^ "Tom Daley: Set to make a splash at Beijing". ABC News. abc.net.au. 15 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  6. ^ "Daley, 13, close to clinching Olympic place", sport.independent.co.uk, 7 January 2008
  7. ^ "Tom Daley wins two diving medals in Madrid", telegraph.co.uk, 20 January 2008.
  8. ^ "Thomas Daley Delivers with Bronze at the World Cup", plymouthdiving.com, 22 February 2008.
  9. ^ "Youngster Daley claims Euro gold" - BBC.co.uk
  10. ^ "13 year-old Daley heads to Bejing (sic)", The Guardian, 24 February 2008.
  11. ^ "Daley is not the youngest Olympian", Daily Mail, 25 February 2008.
  12. ^ "Daley's diving disappointment" Sky News, 11 August 2008.
  13. ^ "Great Britain's diving sensation Tom Daley finishes seventh in 10 m platform final" Daily Telegraph, 23 August 2008.
  14. ^ "Platform Boys Final - Youth B" Sportlicht.com, 19 September 2008
  15. ^ "Daley sets new PB as he takes British title", The Herald (Plymouth), 7 February 2009.
  16. ^ "Olympic diver Blake Aldridge injured in nightclub attack", Daily Telegraph, 7 February 2009.
  17. ^ Daley takes World Series bronze, bbc.co.uk, 28 March 2009.
  18. ^ Daley secures World Series silver, bbc.co.uk, 19 April 2009.
  19. ^ Shea, Julian (2009-04-07). "Daley's new diving partner named". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2009-04-08.
  20. ^ "Daley and Brick land silver in US". BBC News Online. 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  21. ^ British teen Daley wins gold in men's platform, Associated Press, 9 May 2009
  22. ^ 13 Year old British Olympian pledges support for the NSPCC, nspcc.org.uk, undated (early 2008).
  23. ^ Star Tom Daley taunted by playground bullies, thisisplymouth.co.uk, 23 April 2009.
  24. ^ Dive star Daley bullied at school, bbc.co.uk, 23 April 2009.
  25. ^ Charity backs bullied Tom Daley, CBBC Newsround, 25 April 2009.
  26. ^ An Olympic hero aged just 14 – but bullies make his life hell,news.scotsman.com, 24 April 2009.
  27. ^ Private schools compete for Tom Daley, timesonline.co.uk, 24 April 2009.
  28. ^ bronze medal for Cassie!, plymouthcollege.com, 20 August 2008.
  29. ^ "BBC honours South West sports stars". BBC.co.uk. 5 December 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  30. ^ Brunton, Michael. "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch - 63. Tom Daley". TIME. TIME, Inc. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  31. ^ "Sportsround reveals young sports star finalists". CBBC Newsround. BBC. Retrieved 2008-11-28.

News articles

Awards
Preceded by BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year
2007 		Succeeded by
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