Feats first for Daley
Britain’s pin-up boy will not be complacent when he returns to action in Edinburgh, hears Susan Swarbrick
WHEN Tom Da ley steps up to the 10m platform at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh next Sunday all eyes will be on him. It is a scenario he has had to grow all too used to.
A combination of world-class diving prowess and GQ cover star looks has guaranteed that, wherever Daley goes, he is the main attraction. His life exists in a perpetual goldfish bowl: while teenage girls swoon over him, he has garnered a burgeoning gay fanbase, as well as a legion of adoring grannies who want to pinch his cheek.
The Olympic bronze medallist will lead a British challenge in the third round of the Fina/ Midea Diving World Series, which gets under way on Friday. He retained his British national title in February, but this will be his first taste of international competition since London 2012. The 18-year-old will face Mexico’s Ivan Garcia, Anton Zakharov from the Ukraine and Victor Minibaev from Russia in the men’s 10m individual event.
As the television cameras roll and flash bulbs pop, by Daley’s side will be Andy Banks, the longterm coach who has guided and nurtured his career since he was a precocious eight-year-old. Few people know Daley better.
“He is a remarkable person,” Banks said. “Not only is he an extremely talented diver, he’s a very bright lad.
“Obviously he has the looks to go with it which turns him into a bit of an A-list celebrity – and the girls in particular love him to bits. Although it’s not just the girls. We’ve had stag parties come up to us at the airport and ask for a photograph with Tom because the blokes admire and respect what he’s achieved.
“The nice thing about Tom is that he really hasn’t changed that much. He could have become a right bighead, particularly with having so much success at such a young age, but he hasn’t. He is still the same old Tom.”
Daley, who won his first senior European title at 13, is credited with sparking a boom in the sport’s popularity. But he had to weather a barrage of criticism this year when he fronted ITV programme Splash, in which he mentored such celebrities as former skier Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards and model Caprice .
“Splash c a me out of nowhere and all of a sudden we’re on primetime t el evision,” s aid Banks. “You can’t buy that sort of publicit y, can you? Our diving programme has had double the number of inquiries we would normally have had; we are bursting at the seams – and it’s the same all round the country.”
Banks defended the show and Daley’s involvement, insisting the disruption to his protege’s focus was minimal. “The filming that was done with Tom, outside of the live events, was in Plymouth so he could do that around his training,” he said. While Splash was universally panned by TV critics, it proved a Saturday night ratings hit, averaging a 5.6 million audience. “The viewing figures s p o ke for t h e mselves,” said Banks. “Certainly the feedback I’ve had, people told me they en joyed sitting down as a family to watch.” But now it is back to the serious business. In the year following an Olympic Games there is often a depleted field in international competition, but Banks said that did not give any excuse to be complacent.
“Everyone at the top end of the game in diving now is a force to be reckoned with,” he said. “There were seven or eight people with the potential to get on that rostrum in London. If you had run the competition an hour before or afterwards, you would probably have had a different order and set of people up there. Diving is very much an on-theday sport.
“All of the guys will want to do as well as they can. So once again it’s gloves off, fisticuffs at dawn, and off we go.”
The three- day event in Edinburgh comprises individual and synchronised 3m and 10m disciplines. Among the line- up is a nine-strong British squad which includes Olympic finalist Chris Mears alongside Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow, who defended their 10m synchronised national title in February.