Tom Daley: 'I've blocked out so many traumatic parts of my childhood'

Metro

2 days ago

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From the moment Tom Daley made history by becoming Great Britain's youngest ever competitor at an Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, we as a nation have taken for granted what an open book he has been.
If hurtling off a 10m diving board at speeds of up to 33mph wasn't intimidating enough, Tom has had to endure intense scrutiny over the years, including when he came out in 2013, and when he suffered the heartbreaking loss of his father when he was 17 years old.
Speaking to Metro ahead of the release of his new Discovery Plus documentary – which is titled 1.6 Seconds, in reference to the time it takes for a diver to hit the water from a 10m board – the Celebrity Traitors star has once again bared all.
Within the feature-length documentary, Tom sheds light on how he was never properly able to grieve the death of his father and instead compartmentalised that trauma to focus on his diving career.
That struggle, alongside some surprising lows in a career that saw him earn five Olympic medals, weaves in and out of a breathtakingly inspiring diving journey.
But, speaking to me from inside a posh London hotel while wearing a (shock) immaculately knitted jumper, Tom shared what it was like to watch never-before-seen archival footage of himself as a child with his father.
'In the documentary I was sitting in a room where I was interviewed for about seven hours talking about my dad and then seeing pictures of me and him when I was really young as a baby, it really got me,' Tom said.
'There's so many parts of my childhood and life that – because it's difficult enough growing up away – you end up blocking out so many of the traumatic things.
'You like to think about all of the amazing things that you got to do and the fun times that you had with your friends and your family, so reliving some of the more difficult parts of my life were challenging.'
In May 2011, Tom's father, Robert Daley, died at the age of 40 after suffering from brain cancer.
At the time, then-17-year-old Tom paid tribute to his dad in a statement posted on social media, writing: 'If I could be half the dad that my Dad was to me then that would be my best achievement! I love you!'
Throughout his early diving career, Robert was a constant presence at his competitions, even at the point when he was getting his brain tumour removed.
At one particularly poignant moment in the documentary, Tom tells how his father pushed back his brain surgery by two weeks just to make sure he could be at a diving tournament for Tom.
During the interview with Metro, the diving great explained that he's 'way more vulnerable' in his new documentary than he ever usually is.
'I've seen the documentary many times with different cuts, but it's going to be the first time I see it with my mum and my grandma and my friends, so that's going to be quite an emotional one,' he said.
The decision to make the documentary came at a pivotal moment in his life – just before he decided that he was going to return to the Olympics to compete one last time at Paris 2024.
'It felt like it was the time to do the whole life career moment,' he stated.
'But I also felt incredibly lucky to have lots of archival footage that my dad had filmed and I saw lots of it for the very first time.'
The dad-of-two shared how much it means for his own children to witness the relationship that he had with his father, as well as to see how what their own dad has achieved in his career.
'That's something that I'm really grateful for,' he shared. 'My kids are going to be able to look back and maybe one day see the things that I got up to.'
Looking back on his childhood, Tom acknowledged that there a certain things he might have missed out on, as he didn't have a 'normal' upbringing.
'But I also got the opportunity to see and do so many cool things that lots of my friends didn't have the opportunity to do. So I think there's definitely a balance there,' he added.
Tom continued: 'I don't necessarily regret anything that I did or sacrificed, because at the end of the day from the age of nine or 10 I was saying that I wanted to win an Olympic gold medal. Yes, there were things that I had to sacrifice, but in the end, I got there. So when that happens, it's worthwhile.'
Throughout a glittering career, Tom has won five Olympic medals, including one Gold, one Silver and three Bronze, making him Britain's most decorated diver.
He also holds multiple World, Commonwealth and European Championship gold medals, and became a world champion at just the age of 13.
In addition to his diving talents, Tom has also made a name for himself in the world of knitting in recent years.
This meant I couldn't end the interview without asking Tom about his perfectly knitted jumper, and also whether he had any big projects lined up. More Trending
On top of recently starring in Channel 4's new Game of Wool, Tom revealed that he has a secret 'naughty knitting list' for celebrities, and he has given cardigans to the likes of Sharon Stone, Cynthia Eo and Ariana Grande.
Did this make me insanely jealous that I would likely never receive a knitted jumper from Tom? Of course it did, yes.
Learning about Tom's struggles not just inside of the pool, but also as he navigated coming out as gay when he had the world at his feet, all on top of reckoning with the death of his father, was, rather simply, life-affirming.
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1.6 Seconds is available to watch on Discovery Plus from June 1.
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