Paris 2024 Olympics: GB flagbearer Tom Daley: "My biggest achievement is to dive in front of my husband and kids"
Tom Daley vividly remembers walking out into the Bird’s Nest for the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Fourteen years old at the time and the youngest on the Great Britain team, the diver was mesmerised following in the footsteps of the team’s flagbearer, five-time Olympian Mark Foster.
Sixteen years later, Daley himself has arrived at his fifth Olympic Games, at Paris 2024, and is selected to carry the nation's flag at the Opening Ceremony together with rower Helen Glover.
“I remember walking out in 2008 in the Opening Ceremony behind Mark Foster who was our flagbearer then and to think now, flash forward five Olympics, and to be named flagbearer,” Daley said. “It was a huge honour and, of course, the only answer was yes.”
Having already won an Olympic gold medal and defied expectations by managing to qualify for his fifth Olympic Games – a rare feat in the diving world – Daley is not putting any pressure on himself in Paris, but is determined to savour the experience.
Unlike Tokyo 2020, the stands will be packed again and that is an atmosphere Daley can thrive in. For him, however, even having only three spectators would be enough.
"(At Tokyo 2020) there was none of that excitement outside of the pool, which made it very focussed, but also made it very intense, whereas this time I think lots of athletes are looking to really soak up the experience. But for me, going into this in terms of expectations, I just want to be able to go out, show my best," Daley said. "My biggest achievement is to be able to dive in front of my husband and my two little kids."
While Daley finished off the podium in his Olympic debut at Beijing 2008, he would became a teenage sensation and lived up to that hype at the home Games at London 2012 where he took bronze in the individual 10m platform event.
He added a synchro bronze at Rio 2016 and celebrated his best Olympics yet at Tokyo 2020 where his two-medal haul included a gold in the synchronized 10m platform.
With four Olympic medals on his record, now 27 years old, Daley decided to step back from diving. He managed to stick to this decision for two years before a chance trip to a sports museum turned his world upside down, literally.
“It took me going to the Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs actually, where at the end, there's this video of what it means to be an Olympian. And it took me completely off guard," Daley said. "I had quite an emotional response as my son ... said to me that he wanted to see me dive in the Olympics. And, of course, when your children say that they want you to do something, whether it's getting back into the pool and training for the Olympics, you do it.
"This time last year was when I decided to come back and I didn't know if I was going to get back into the synchro team, if we were going to qualify a spot, but with a bit of hard work and making sure that you show up every day, and determination, you can get there.”
The gold medal Daley won alongside Matty Lee at Tokyo 2020 had deeper significance as it prevented the People’s Republic of China from sweeping the eight gold medals available in diving.
The Chinese have finished one or two spots short from a full sweep in all four of Daley’s past Games appearances and are bringing another dominant team to Paris 2024. Daley, however, is optimistic that it is possible to prevent a golden sweep again, particularly in the men’s events.
“The Chinese diving team is the strongest diving nation, unquestionably. On paper, you would probably consider them to win every single event, but it's the Olympic Games, and I know that every single one of the Chinese divers knows that it's their competition to lose, which brings a lot of pressure, a lot of expectation," Daley said. "I think you go into a competition with a different mindset if you know that you could and should win, so I think the rest of the world is very much on China's heels to be ready to challenge them.
"It's possible. It's always going to be tough, but diving is such an on-the-day sport and in the synchro events, they're straight finals, so on Monday it comes down to six dives. Who can do the best six dives within 45 minutes? We'll find out."