Olympian Tom Daley and his partner Matty Lee won gold in the 10 metre synchronised diving event at Tokyo 2020.
The pair never moved out of the top two spots, racking up an impressive 471.81 points. They finished 1.23 points ahead of China, to take the title, while the Russians came in third place.
The Tokyo Games marks Daley’s fourth tournament and his third Olympic medal. He won bronze in both London and Rio, and can’t believe he has just achieved his first gold now.
Daley has been diving for 20 years and thinks a lot of people would have written him off in these Games as he is one of the older ones. It may be his fourth time competing at the Olympics, but Daley says he is “in the best shape physically and mentally”. He is pleased to “finally have this gold medal around my neck after so many”.
Daley “still honestly can’t believe what’s happening, and didn’t think he would even “get there in the first place”. However, he entered the tournament with confidence, thinking “we are the ones to beat”. It is the first time he was able to think like that, and credits his partner Matty Lee for all the support. They worked hard preparing for the competition and “had that unstoppable mentality this year”.
Lee moved his whole life from Leeds to London in 2018 to train. He says their aim was always to get an Olympic medal, and to have achieved that goal in this way is “awesome”. Lee adds that he owes it to “Tom because he has taught me a lot”.
An early lead
The pair had a good start in the first round with an inward one-and-a-half somersault pike, and continued in the lead with two rounds left.
A poor dive by China in the fourth round paved the way to gold for Daley and Lee. Meanwhile, the Brits scored big with an impressive backwards three-and-a-half somersaults pike.
Pressure was put on China going into the final round, as the British pair earned another good score with a reverse three-and-a-half somersaults tuck on their fifth dive.
The final impressive dive from Daley and Lee saw a forward four-and-half somersault tuck earn them 101.01 points. This cemented the win as China could not catch up with their last attempt.
The duo are already European Champions in the event and also won gold at the Diving World Cup this year.
Elsewhere, Adam Peaty became the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title by winning gold in Tokyo.
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