An emotional Tom Daley has confirmed that he is retiring from the world of professional diving.
Tom has been diving competitively since he was a teenager, and in the 2024 Olympics picked up a silver medal, making him one of the few athletes with a bronze, silver and gold to his name.
After returning home from Paris on Monday morning, he was interviewed at London’s St Pancras station by BBC News, where he opened up about his decision to retire from the sport for which he has been synonymous for more than 15 years.
Fighting back tears, he admitted: “It’s hard to talk about. I am [proud of myself]. Yeah, it’s really hard to talk about, but you know, I have to hang it up some time. But I’m very proud.”
Asked for his immediate plans upon returning to the UK, he shared: “I want to be with my family. I’m really excited to be able to spend some time with them, and be able to feel a bit normal for a couple of days. But yeah, it’s just very overwhelming. I didn’t mean for it all to time out exactly like this, but yeah, I just feel very proud of my career.”
“Right now, obviously, it’s just a lot,” he shared. “But I’m really happy with how everything’s gone, I just think it’s always hard when you say goodbye to your sport. So, yeah… lots of things to process.
“But it’s the right time, this year felt like such a bonus. And I got to compete in front of my family, my kids, and I got to be flag-bearer. So bucket list ticked off on every occasion.”
“I’m very happy, but it’s hard to talk when you have loved something so much,” Tom added.
This year marked Tom’s fifth time at the Olympics, having first competed in Beijing back in 2008, and winning his first medal four years later.
In 2021, he won gold alongside diving partner Matty Lee, after that year’s event was delayed by a year due to the Covid pandemic.
Outside of diving, Tom is also a published author, LGBTQ+ advocate and, of course, accomplished knitter.
He is married to Oscar-winning filmmaker Dustin Lance Black, with whom he shares two children, six-year-old Robbie, named after his late father, and one-year-old Phoenix.