Who is Tom Daley?

Thomas Robert Daley OBE is a British diver and TV personality who was born on May 21, 1994. He is an Olympic gold medalist in the men’s synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics, as well as a double world champion in the FINA 10-metre platform event, having won it in 2009 at the age of fifteen, and again in 2017.

He is the first British diver to earn four Olympic medals, having won bronze in the 2012 platform event, the 2016 synchronised event, and the 2020 platform event. Daley also competes in team competitions, having won the inaugural World Mixed Team Championship in 2015. He has won five European titles and four Commonwealth titles.

Also read: CWG 2022: Tom Daley to protest LGBTQ+ intolerance at the opening ceremony

Daley began diving at the age of seven and is a member of the Plymouth Diving Club, where his skill was discovered early on and he began competing in national and international championships at the age of nine. He competed for Great Britain in the 2008 Summer Olympics as the country’s youngest athlete, aged fourteen years old, and the youngest competitor from any nation to compete in a final.

Daley achieved a career-high position of first in the FINA World Aquatics Championships Diving Rankings for the 10 m platform in 2009. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he won two gold medals for England: 10 m synchro diving (with Max Brick) and 10 m Individual Platform.

Also read: CWG 2022 opening ceremony: Date, Time, live telecast, streaming and more

Following the 2012 Summer Olympics and summer of increased sporting interest among the UK public, Daley was asked by television network ITV to appear in their new celebrity diving reality TV show Splash! Daley made his debut as a mentor to the celebrity competitors in the show’s launch on January 5, 2013.

Personal Life

On August 23, 2010, Daley launched a YouTube channel. His channel covers a wide range of topics, including vlogs, workout, and eating. Daley has almost 1,200,000 subscribers and over 130 million views as of September 2021. 

Daley admitted that speaking out about his personal life had been a difficult decision. He said, “I’d never felt the feeling of love, it happened so quickly, I was completely overwhelmed by it to the point I can’t get him out of my head all the time.” Dustin Lance Black, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, director, and producer, is his husband.

Also read: Commonwealth Games 2022 Day 1: Preview, schedule and timing in India

Daley and Black met at an industry gathering, and Daley later described it as “a real love-at-first-sight thing.” On October 1, 2015, he announced their engagement. Daley and Black married on May 6, 2017, at Bovey Castle in Devon. Daley announced on Instagram on 14 February 2018 that he and Black were expecting their first child via surrogacy, which sparked some controversy owing to the ethical difficulties surrounding surrogacy. In June, their son was born. The family is from London. Daley and Black never post photographs of their son’s face online or on social media.

Daley enjoys knitting and crocheting, which he began doing when the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown began. Daley showed an Olympic-themed knitted sweater he had produced during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Daley was frequently seen crocheting in the stands while watching other competitors compete on television during diving competitions. He has a separate Instagram account for his knitting and crochet efforts.

Activism

In the run-up to the September referendum on Scottish independence, Daley was one of 200 public personalities who signed a letter to The Guardian opposing it.

Also read: India at Commonwealth Games: A brief history

Daley called on Commonwealth countries to eliminate anti-gay laws in a statement issued on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018. In response, Boris Johnson, the then-UK Foreign Secretary, told BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat that he would voice doubts about LGBT rights with leaders of nations where homosexuality is prohibited.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has repeatedly urged states to protect the rights of their vulnerable LGBT minorities. Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said she “deeply regretted” Britain’s historical legacy of anti-gay laws throughout the British Commonwealth.

Daley stated in October 2021 that it would be his “mission” to campaign for countries where homosexuality is punishable by death to be barred from competing in the next Olympics, “to make it so that the countries [where it’s] punishable by death for LGBT people are not allowed to compete at the Olympic Games.”

He also intends to condemn bigotry toward the LGBTQ+ community at the Commonwealth Games 2022 opening ceremony.