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Tom Daley Discusses Struggles with Bullying, Grief and Body Image in New Doc, Says He Wouldn't Change A Thing (Exclusive)
NEED TO KNOW The new Tom Daley documentary 1.6 Seconds premiered globally on Max and on in the U.S. on June 1, 2025 The film explores the life of the Olympian diver, one of Britain's most-celebrated athletes, in and out of the pool 1.6 Seconds highlights Daley's close relationship with his late father, Robert Daley, and how he learned to navigate life without his biggest supporter In the powerful new documentary 1.6 Seconds, Olympic medalist Tom Daley opens up about his personal battles with bullying, grief and body-image issues that shaped his experience standing atop the 10-meter diving platform. Advertisement The 31-year-old offers a candid look behind his five medals (one gold, one silver, three bronze), revealing the emotional hurdles he faced along the way — most notably the death of his father, the one person to whom he felt most connected. Despite the pain, Daley now reflects on his past with a sense of gratitude and acceptance. Sam Riley/WBD Tom Daley in '1.6 Seconds' Tom Daley in '1.6 Seconds' 'My whole life has been about diving. My whole life has been about perfecting those 1.6 seconds,' Daley says in the documentary. 'I spend four years training for something that goes by in less than 10 seconds in total. And I wouldn't change a thing. It's been the best 23 years that I can imagine.' Advertisement It is clear in the film just how much of Daley's early life and career was shaped by his father, Robert Daley. From the very beginning, his dad was always there, driving him to every training session and cheering him on at every competition. 'He didn't care how well I did. He didn't care if I came last. He didn't care if I bombed out. Like there was no concern about the outcome,' Daley says. 'He just wanted to be there.… He just loved seeing me dive.' To Daley, his father was far more than just a supporter. 'He was the one person that I could go to to speak about anything and everything and feel like I had someone on my side,' he says in 1.6 Seconds. That deep connection made his loss all the more devastating. On May 27, 2011, just days after Daley turned 17, his father passed away from brain cancer. 'I didn't just lose my dad, because he was much more than that,' Daley says. 'He was my biggest cheerleader, my best friend, mentor. I mean, our whole life came to a standstill.' Advertisement Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Robert Daley had kept the seriousness of his illness from his children for as long as he could, determined not to let it overshadow his son's growing success. 'Now that I think about it as a parent, it would be like trying to explain that to my oldest son. And, you know, if one of the kids knew, then they were all going to know,' Daley, who shares two sons with his husband, filmmaker Dustin Lance Black, tells PEOPLE exclusively. 'As a parent, you want to protect your kids from anything that's going into that.' 'So I just think… that's part of the reason for the documentary and like how grateful I am to have all of that archival footage,' he adds. 'All of those moments… forever immortalized by being able to actually have copies of that digitized.' Advertisement Daley admits that after losing his father, at a time when he needed him the most, he felt completely alone in the world. 'I think there was something about when he was gone that I think in turn, probably did have something to do with all that I've faced,' he reflects. 'The feeling like I had to face it alone because I didn't want to upset anyone else or bother anyone else because they were already going through enough.' Not only was he dealing with grief, but the then teenager had also been experiencing bullying and battling body-image issues. Immediately after making his Olympic debut in Beijing in 2008 at the age of 14, Daley started to feel unsafe at school. Kids would call him names and threaten to break his legs. The situation got so bad that Daley and his friends were given a key to lock themselves in a classroom to escape other students at lunchtime. Advertisement 'I don't think people realize how much it impacted me because I didn't really talk about it,' he says in the documentary. 'I was almost embarrassed about the fact that people were mean to me at school. I feel so sorry for that kid that had to explain what was going on.' Looking back, Daley says it was more difficult to process his experience with bullying once he talked about it publicly at age 13. Having everyone know what he was going through made it more overwhelming and painful. 'I just think maybe I would have been slightly more conservative with what I would share when I was younger,' he tells PEOPLE. Sam Riley/WBD Tom Daley in '1.6 Seconds' Tom Daley in '1.6 Seconds' At the end of 2011, Daley, who was still in his teens, was told by the performance director at British Diving that he needed to lose weight and look more like he had in 2008. Advertisement 'It was the first time where I felt that I was being looked at and judged not for how I did in the diving pool but for how I looked,' he says in 1.6 Seconds. 'I took then some quite drastic measures to make sure that the food did not stay in my stomach.' His body image was all he could think about leading up to the 2012 London Olympics. Despite knowing he was not overweight, Daley explains that it's much harder to ask for help when you are already in it and 'feel like there is no way out.' 'Every time I made a decision about what I was going to eat, if I was going to eat it and then get myself so hungry that I would end up eating so much and binging to the point where I was then so guilty — that I then had to do something about that,' he says on camera. Daley also admits to struggling with internalized beliefs about masculinity in the documentary. 'In my head, guys didn't have eating disorders, guys didn't have any problems with their mental health,' he says. 'Guys were meant to be these macho things that get on with anything and you just keep going.' Sam Riley/WBD Tom Daley in '1.6 Seconds' Tom Daley in '1.6 Seconds' As a result, he often felt isolated. It was only after he met his husband, became a dad and found himself beyond the pool that Daley became comfortable in his own skin. Advertisement 'I finally found perspective, and I didn't put all of my self-worth and self-esteem based on how well I did in diving,' he says in the documentary. 'I started to realize that I was more than just a diver. [I am] a husband, a father, a friend, a son.' Looking back on his journey, Daley acknowledges that the question of whether he would change anything about his past isn't a simple one. 'You know, there's much of my life formed and shaped because of the experiences I went through — the good and the bad,' he tells PEOPLE. 'Those things formed me and created the person I am today.' 1.6 Seconds is now streaming on Max globally and on in the U.S. Read the original article on People
India Gazette
10-05-2025
- Sport
- India Gazette
Indian lifters Seram Nirupama Devi, Dilbag Singh set to compete in Asian Weightlifting Championships 2025
New Delhi [India] May 10 (ANI): India will present a completely new-look team for the continental competition, as leading lifters, including Olympic medalist Mirabai Chanu, have chosen to abstain from the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2025 in Jiangshan, set to take place from May 9 to 15, as per website. Seram Nirupama Devi (women's 64kg) and Dilbag Singh (men's 96kg) are the sole two Indian weightlifters set to compete in Jiangshan. Seram Nirupama Devi is a medallist from the Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships and a champion at the National Games, whereas Dilbag is a gold medalist from the National Games that took place earlier this year. Mirabai Chanu, who last participated in a competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics, will not be attending the upcoming event as she wants to take this time to acclimate to her new weight category following the reshuffling of divisions by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). The IWF has introduced an updated list of weight classes that will come into effect on June 1, 2025, for all international events. For senior and junior male competitors, the updated weight classes include: 60kg, 65kg, 71kg, 79kg, 88kg, 98kg, 110kg, and +110kg. In contrast, the new divisions for senior and junior female athletes are: 48kg, 53kg, 58kg, 63kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg, and +86kg. These modifications, which will be applicable during the 2026 Asian and Commonwealth Games, will impact many weightlifters worldwide, including some of India's top athletes. Competitors from various parts of Asia showcased remarkable skills, with the home country, China, quickly taking the lead in the medal rankings, as per the Asian Weightlifting Federation. As the Championships continue, attention is fixated on Jiangshan, where records are tested and rivalries heat up. Importantly, the 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships is significant as it is the last continental competition to include 10 weight classes. (ANI)
India Gazette
10-05-2025
- Sport
- India Gazette
14 Indian athletes to participate in World Athletics Relays 2025
New Delhi [India] May 10 (ANI): India will send a team of 14 athletes to participate in the World Athletics Relays 2025, which will take place in Guangzhou, China, on May 10 and 11, as per website. This year's event at the Guangdong Olympic Stadium will include six relay categories: men's 4x400m, men's 4x100m, women's 4x400m, and women's 4x100m, as well as mixed relays for both 4x400m and 4x100m. This will be the seventh edition of the World Athletics Relays, and it will be the first time the event will be held in China. For the first time, the mixed 4x100m relay will be featured at the World Relays. Additionally, India will only participate in the men's and mixed 4x400m races. Guangzhou 25 also serves as a qualifying event for the World Athletics Championships 2025, which is set to occur in Tokyo this September. A total of 730 competitors from 43 different nations will take part in the World Relays. Each country can submit one team for each event, with a limit of eight athletes per team. The first 14 teams in each category, excluding the mixed 4x100m, will secure automatic spots for the Tokyo 25 World Championships, where 16 teams will compete in each relay. The final two slots will be assigned according to the most impressive results achieved throughout the qualification phase, which occurred from February 25, 2024, to August 24, 2025. The Indian men's 4x400m team will be led by the top five competitors from the Federation Cup 2025 held in Kochi: TK Vishal, Jay Kumar, TS Manu, Dharamveer Choudhary, and Rince Joseph. Olympic athletes Amoj Jacob and Subha Venkatesan are the standout athletes in the mixed 4x400m relay team. Olympians Amoj Jacob and Subha Venkatesan headline the mixed 4x400m relay squad. Indian squad at the World Relays 2025 Men's 4x400m: Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan, Dharamveer Choudhary, Rince Joseph, Tushar Kanti, Jay Kumar, Mohit Kumar, TS Manu and TK Vishal. Mixed 4x400m: Amoj Jacob, Dharamveer Choudhary, TK Vishal, Sneha Kolleri, Jisna Mathew, Rupal, Subha Venkatesan. (ANI)
