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Former teen sensation will compete at his third Olympic Games; China’s Ren Qian scores perfect 10 as Olympic qualifier and test event continues in Barra Olympic Park
Dan Goodfellow and Tom Daley earned an Olympic spot for Great Britain (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
He is the fresh-faced pin-up of diving, but at just 21 years of age Tom Daley admits he is starting to feel a little old. After earning a place in the sychronised 10m platform event at Rio 2016, which will be his third Olympic Games, the Briton sounded like a battle-hardened veteran.
“My dives are a lot harder, I am more experienced, but my body is a lot older so I feel a lot more aches and pains,” he said following competition late on Sunday night in the FINA Diving World Cup at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre. Asked if he would celebrate by enjoying Rio’s famous live music scene, Daley said: “No, I’m too old for that!”
Tom Daley on a mission in the city he loves
While Daley clearly has many good years ahead of him – and vowed to “keep going as long as my body allows it” – it must be remembered that he burst onto the scene at the Beijing 2008 Games, aged just 14.
His fame and popularity are such that he was cheered to the rafters at the Maria Lenk, with only the Brazilian competitors receiving comparable ovations. Daley said he loved the city, its beaches, food and, most of all, its people. “Everyone is very friendly, and always ready to help,” he said.
Tom Daley
Daley had already won an Olympic place in the individual 10m platform event by finishing third at last year’s world championships, and now he has done the same in the synchronised event, alongside his new partner Dan Goodfellow. The British pair finished third behind Chinese world champion duo Chen Aisen and Lin Yue and Germany’s Patrick Hausding and Sacha Klein. China had already confirmed their places at Rio 2016 (along with Mexico and Russia, at the worlds, and Brazil as host nation), so Germany and Great Britain were joined by the USA and Ukraine, who finished fourth and fifth, in qualifying for the Olympic Games, FINA confirmed.
Become an Olympic diving expert with our interactive infographic
Competition was interrupted for 40 minutes on Sunday by a tropical thunderstorm, but Daley said it was just another challenge to overcome. “Everything that could have been thrown at us was thrown at us, it was a great experience” he said. “Competing in the dark with spotlights is another element of outdoor competition that is new to us and we are happy with how it went, it was good for us.”
Daley is hugely popular figure – his YouTube channel has over 235,000 followers and his videos have been watched almost 28 million times – but he is adamant that time spent on social media is not a distraction.
Tom Daley on social media use
He added: “For my generation, all my friends and family, other divers, it’s part of the first thing you do when you wake up – check Facebook, check Twitter, take a photo and put it on Instagram, make a video and put it on YouTube. It’s good, if you just thought about diving all the time, you’d go insane! And my coach doesn't mind, she’s on Facebook more than me.
“We are the first generation that is able to connect with fans directly. Before you'd have newspapers and magazines,but having this direct connection makes a massive difference.”
The competion, which continues until Wednesday and is doubling up as the Rio 2016 diving test event at the renovated Olympic venue, also saw a perfect score on Sunday. The day after her 15th birthday, China’s Ren Qian took gold in the women’s individual 10m platform event with a 10 on her last jump to finish ahead of compatriot Si Yajie and Australia’s Melissa Wu.
Ren Qian on scoring a perfect 10
With 88 places at the Olympic Games up for grabs over the six-day event and more than 200 of the world’s best divers in town, tickets sold well for the weekend, with 2,612 present on Sunday, for which 3,000 tickets were available.
Friday saw another Chinese superstar, four-time Olympic champion Chen Ruolin, win the women’s 10m platform synchronised event with partner Liu Huixia, while Malaysian pair Cheong Jun Hoong and Pandelela Rinong Pamg took silver and Sarah Barrow and Tonia Couch from Great Britain claimed bronze. China were already qualified for the Olympic Games, so the second to fifth-placed finishers – completed by USA pair Amy Cozad and Jessica Parratto in fourth and Mexicans Paola Espinosa and Alejandra Orozco Loza (competing under the FINA flag) in fifth – booked places in Rio alongside China, Canada, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Brazil.
In the men’s 3m springboard synchronised event, Germany, Mexico (competing under the FINA flag), Italy and the USA earned Olympic places, joining China, Great Britain, Russia and Brazil, FINA confirmed.
Saturday saw the last four Rio 2016 places in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard decided, with Italy, Malaysia, Great Britain and Germany joining China, Canada, Australia and Brazil on the confirmed list, FINA confirmed.
