Tom Daley put his Olympic heartache behind him last night by claiming Britain’s first individual world diving title just two months after his 15th birthday.
After a dramatic final here, Daley, who switched schools last month after being taunted by bullies, was left open-mouthed in disbelief.
He said later: ‘Getting into the final, I just thought, “Go out there and do your best and see what happens”. I thought I was going to come fourth and I would have been really happy with that. But then to come away with a medal was going to be great, then a gold medal was just insane.’
Fourth place would have been a reasonable return for a diver who is still on a learning curve. He had, after all, to put behind him a disappointing Beijing Olympics, when he finished seventh in the individual 10m event and last in the 10m synchro following a messy disagreement with his diving partner, Blake Aldridge.
But Daley dived beautifully in his semi-final here to qualify in third place then produced a stunning performance in the final.
While he was calm in the news conference afterwards, his father Rob was so excited he posed as a member of the press and asked his son the all-important question: ‘Tom, can I give you a cuddle?’
Daley reluctantly left his seat in front of the cameras and went to hug his father at the back of the room, before returning to the microphones and muttering: ‘How embarrassing!’
Tom Daley
Golden boy: The 15-year-old now wants to win the London Olympics in 2012
His mother, Debbie, who stayed at home in Plymouth with the rest of the family, said: ‘I haven’t stopped shaking. He is just so focused on what he is doing and just seems to get better and better.’
Daley managed one perfect mark of 10 in the first four rounds.
In an ordinary year, that may have been enough, but this was no ordinary contest. Competing against him were Olympic champion Matt Mitcham from Australia, silver medallist Zhou Luxin and his Chinese team-mate Qui Bo, who claimed bronze.
Simply perfect: Tom Daley becomes Britain¿s first individual world diving champion
Simply perfect: Tom Daley becomes Britain's first individual world diving champion
For those first four rounds, Daley was clear of the other eight who made the final, but then slipped behind the leading trio.
With two rounds to go, Bo had a narrow lead from Mitcham, with Zhou third and Daley fourth.
Tom Daley
Teen idol: A superb tuck helped Daley to glory
To have any chance, he had to raise his game and the others had to lower theirs. Remarkably, both happened.
As Daley stood on the board for his penultimate dive, a phone rang in the crowd. If he heard it — and everyone else did — he didn’t show it.
Four perfect marks put him ahead of Zhou, who missed his entry, and closer to Mitcham, who did much the same. There was still Bo, though.
Daley was diving ahead of both Mitcham and Bo, so needed another sensational effort in the final round to keep the pressure on. His dive, a reverse three-and-a-half somersault, was almost as clean as you can get and four 10s appeared on the board.
Mitcham and Bo could still have stolen gold, but both crumbled and Daley stood there, his mouth open in disbelief.
Daley said: ‘For them not to get it is really crazy. I just can’t believe it. It’s been a lot of hard work; lots of ups and lots of downs.
‘Everything I’ve put into it has now become worth it.’
'I had a flashback of his life and I looked up and thought he's a world champion and he's 15. It's an unbelievable feeling.'
Source: excellent Daily Mail coverage from Rome
No comments:
Post a Comment