Tom Daley ended his long wait for an Olympic gold medal with an amazing performance alongside Matty Lee in a nerve-filled men’s synchronized 10m platform event at Tokyo 2020.
In a nail-biting finale, the British pair watched on as Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen conducted their final dive and broke into wild celebrations when it became clear they had ended China’s golden grip on the event, dating back to 2000.
For Daley – now 27 – it marks a first gold medal at his fourth Olympic Games and he wept with joy on the podium, while Lee – four years his junior – can contemplate gold at the first time of asking.
“I still can’t honestly believe what is happening,” Daley said. “That moment, being about to be announced as Olympic champions, I was gone. I was blubbering.”
The pair dived impeccably throughout, moving top of the leaderboard after four dives, before going on to expertly handle nerves and pressure in their final two routines.
The British duo’s total score of 471.81 left China’s Cao and Chen with too much to do and when their tally of 470.58 appeared on the giant screen, Daley, Lee, their coaches and a score of team-mates could not hide their emotions.
The medal marks Tom Daley’s first, 13 years after he debuted at the Beijing Olympics. This was Lee’s first appearance at the Olympics.
Enjoy more photos of Tom Daley and Matty Lee by launching the gallery above.
