Daley Tom - Tom Daley: the unauthorized biography

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
Michael OMara Books Limited
9 Lion Yard
Tremadoc Road
London SW4 7NQ

Copyright Chas Newkey-Burden 2011

All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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ISBN: 978-1-84317-608-4 in hardback print format
ISBN: 978-1-84317-769-2 in EPub format
ISBN: 978-1-84317-770-8 in Mobipocket format

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Cover design by Ana Bjezancevic
Front cover and author photographs by Peregrine Dixon
Designed and typeset by D23
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
www.mombooks.com

Dedicated with love and gratitude to my three champion nieces: Rose, May and Verity.

How fearless and fun you were as we sped down the waterslides at Windsor Leisure Centre.

INTRODUCTION

W HEN EXPERIENCED diving coach Andy Banks first watched Tom Daley in action at his local pool, his expert verdict was instant and clear-cut: I dont think hell ever make it as a diver, said Banks as he saw Tom trembling with nerves. Hes not got a prayer. Nearly ten years later, Tom is a world champion and double- Commonwealth gold-winning diving sensation. He is also Britains greatest hope for the 2012 Olympics in London. Whats more, the man who guided him to all this success is none other than Andy Banks. What a turn of fortunes for the once nervous youngster from Devon.

Tom has described himself as normal, but not quite normal because of all the diving stuff. In truth, he has always been anything other than normal. Most children, when they are nine years old, dream of becoming an astronaut, a footballer, a pop star or a vet. Others do not have a clue what they want to do when they are older, they are too busy simply being kids and living in the moment. Toms dream has long been clear in his mind. As a nine-year-old boy he drew a picture of himself, upside-down on a diving board, with the Olympic logo next to him and London 2012 emblazoned above him. On his face in the drawing Tom wore a triumphant smile. The sketch was topped-off with a written caption: My ambition.

The fertile imagination of youth does not get much more specific than that. Its just everyones dream when they are a little kid, he said. Everyone wants to be an Olympian and get an Olympic gold medal. Well, it certainly was his dream and it is one he is in a good position to fulfil. In the summer of 2012, the hopes of the nation and the eyes of the world will all be on this young man from Plymouth, as he takes a deep breath and leaps off the board at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park, plunging at thirty miles an hour into the water and towards destiny.

Tom describes diving as controlled falling. What would drive somebody to take up such a sport? The risks are obvious. On two occasions Tom has smashed his head against the board on his way down, blood pouring out by the time he hit the water. However, he is full of determination, so he was soon back on the board, working and honing his skill, resolved to be the best. He trains six days a week for a minimum of four hours each time. The preparation is psychological as well as physical. Tom says he has taught himself to have a sat-nav in his head, to help him perfect the intricate movements his dives contain. When a dive works for him, the rush of adrenaline he gets is, he says, unbeatable.

As he has reached the top of his game, he has built a fond fan-base and gained a high media presence. Tom has been interviewed and profiled by the worlds media countless times. He has won three BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year awards and presented a BAFTA. He has been photographed alongside Kate Moss for Vogue, the magazine that describes Tom as one of the people that will define the decade.

The media loves Tom, and Tom who dreams of becoming a television presenter once he stops diving loves it back. One of his former synchro partners witnessed first hand the presss fascination with Tom. I felt as if I didnt matter, Blake Aldridge told me. We would win a medal together and all the headlines would be about Tom. My name would just be in small print. We had our photograph taken together on the rostrum with our gold medals, but the media cropped me out. I didnt blame Tom, but it was demoralizing.

Away from the boards, Tom has had bitter challenges of his own. His father Rob spent the last five years of his life battling brain cancer. Toms relationship with his father was immensely close and intense, so Robs long illness and subsequent tragic death in May 2011 has been particularly hard for his son to come to terms with. Meanwhile, in his still brief life, Tom has had his own demons to face in the form of bullying that he suffered at school after he took part in his first Olympics tournament at fourteen. Bullying that became so bad that Tom changed schools.

Yet somehow he has kept his focus on diving. He became a world champion even as he faced these horrors. He has the whole package needed to become a serious sporting idol: good looks, down-to-earth charm and success. As such, his narrative is simply irresistible: destiny links him with London 2012. He will turn eighteen just before the tournament begins. He was born at the right time, learnt to swim at the right time, said Rob. Weve got a great facility five minutes from our home, the London Olympics was unveiled at the right time. Its all there for him.

The thing that makes Tom and the great ones so great is that they just seem to be born with it.

STEVE FOLEY, national performance director of British Diving and former Olympic diver

T OM WAS FIRST SET ON THE PATH to diving by his father but only inadvertently so. Rob Daley decided to make sure his first-born son learned to swim as early as possible in life, not because he saw a path to sporting success, but simply because he wanted to make sure Tom would be safe as he grew up. The Daleys live in Plymouth, and in that Devonian seaside city one is never far from water. This suited Tom from the start: his first trip to the pool and then the local beach came when he was just four months old. Anything like that he absolutely loved, recalled his mother, Debbie. After hearing several tragic stories of local drowning accidents, Toms parents decided to take their son to learn to swim at the local pool when he was still just three years of age. There was nothing competitive about it at the start, said the protective father. It was about survival, not showing off. We live by the sea. I wanted him to know how to handle himself. Sensible thinking, and little could Rob have known what a fateful day that was to be for his son.

After all, the Daleys have never been a family that actively sought out particular greatness. The only hint in Toms heritage that he might be destined for the diving board lies in the fact that when Rob was a child he had enjoyed the odd bit of leaping of a different kind. When I was a kid I liked jumping off rocks and cliffs, Rob once wrote. But although Rob enjoyed the adrenaline of that activity, he soon grew out of it.