Tom Daley Retires After Olympics: Diving Legend and LGBT Symbol Who Fought Bullying and Prejudice

PARIS — Bye Bye to life upside down, to heights, to waters. Tom Daley returns to earth. At 30 years old and after five Olympicsil English diver decided to retire after theargento in the Synchro platform con Noah Williams a Paris. His fifth Olympics. An endless journey, for a boy who made his debut at 14, in Beijing 2008, at his first Games. “At a certain point the decision has to come, and this seems like the right time. I want to be with my family”, said the star of the platform, who has become a LGBTQ+ community activist: in 2013, with a video on YouTube, he made coming out. And over time he talked about the bullying he had been subjected to at school, so much so that he had to change it. He had recently won the first of his five Olympic medals, the bronze in London 2012 from the individual platform. This was followed by the bronze in the 10-meter synchro in Rio 2016, the gold in Tokyo 2021 from the 10-meter pair as well as the bronze in the individual.

Tom Daley and his marriage to Dustin Lance Black

Right after Japan he had already thought about stepping aside. But it was not his time yet. He has arrived now, in full maturity as a sportsman and above all a man. He is married to the American film producer, Dustin Lance Blackmet in 2013. They announced their engagement on the pages of Times in the “Births, Deaths and Marriages” column of the London daily newspaper The Times in October 2015: “The engagement is announced between Tom, son of Robert and Debra Daley of Plymouth, and Lance, son of Jeff Bisch of Philadelphia and Anne Bisch of Lake Providence.” The wedding two years later, with 120 guests, at Bovey Castle in Devon, England, about 30 miles from Daley’s hometown of Plymouth. A few days later, after the celebration had already taken place, they announced it on Instagram.

Tom Daley’s Children

They have two children, born through surrogate motherhood, Robert “Robbie” Ray6 years old, who bears the name of Tom’s father, the owner of an electrician’s shop, who died in 2011 after the recurrence of a brain tumor and to whom Tom was very close. In March last year, his second son was born, Phoenix. They were all at the swimming pool in Paris, including Tom’s mother, Debbieto cheer for him. The children with a t-shirt that said Team Daley. “Before the race started it looked like we had already won. Just being able to be there with my family and my kids was so special,” Daley said. “They were sitting right above the mixed zone while we were doing our interviews. Phoenix threw his juice glass at me. I’m going to have to give it back to him someday. He almost killed one of the reporters from the BBC. It was really nice to have him there and share this moment”. Three years ago in Tokyo, the Olympics in the Covid era, the protagonist in the stands was instead Tom: the images of the champion while doing thecrochetone of his favorite hobbies, had toured the world.

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Tom Daley and his farewell to diving after five Olympics

Only silver was missing from his medal collection. The Circles now come full circle. Life calls: “The people closest to Olympians really have to sacrifice something of themselves to support our journey. My husband has been there all year taking the reins with the kids when I go to a training camp or a competition. He has a career of his own but sometimes he has had to put that aside so I can reach my goals. This year has definitely been a difficult time because we moved to Los Angeles and Lance is getting his career back on track. He has been so supportive of me coming back and trying to compete again. Fifteen months ago I was sitting on the couch doing nothing and today, being able to get back in shape to compete, is something I feel very proud of having been able to do. And it’s really special to have someone who has your back and supports you unconditionally.” It’s time to give back, to yourself and to others. To take your life back, head up.

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