The Brits do Olympic “celebrities” much in the same way America does – we celebrate them, we hype them, we give them lucrative endorsements, and then if they don’t deliver, we completely forget about them. Diver Tom Daley was one of those Olympic celebrities, and much like American swimmer Missy Franklin, Daley didn’t deliver quite as expected. There was hope that Daley, after so many years of hype, would be a major diving contender. He won bronze in the 10m men’s platform event in London, and to be fair, Daley did win bronze in Rio in men’s synchronized 10m platform earlier last week. But then he didn’t even make it to the finals in his signature event, 10m men’s platform in Rio.
A heartbroken Tom Daley was left dumbfounded by his failure to qualify for the 10m platform Olympic final that it seemed his destiny to win. Having set a personal best score to top the preliminary round on Friday, the 22-year-old crashed out of the semi-final stage in last place. The final, which was supposed to be his moment to seal his place as Britain’s golden boy, belonged to Chen Aisen of China, who won with a score of 585.30. German Sanchez of Mexico finished second and David Boudia of the United States won bronze.
“I am in shock right now,” Daley, a bronze medallist at London 2012, said after his elimination. “I know that I could win that gold medal and I think right now I am the only one who could challenge the Chinese for that gold medal. I want to be an Olympic champion. That’s been my dream since I was a kid and this is just heartbreaking. In the Olympics you can get your dreams crushed in an instant. This is my lowest moment in diving. It doesn’t get any lower than this. It is tough to even think about what the final is going to be like later and what the scores are going to be.”
How exactly a score of 585 in the preliminaries metamorphosed into 403.25 will take some processing for Daley and his coach, Jane Figueiredo. Clearly something went very wrong, but how and why that happened is still something of a mystery. His preparations were pretty much the same, his practice had been sublime, but as soon as he stepped up to the platform all those best laid-plans disappeared.
Many think that Daley just had difficulty performing under pressure, or that he was just having a really bad day at the worst time to have a bad day. It really was like a slow-motion horror show – he did so well in the preliminaries and then it was just one bad dive after another in the qualifying round. Some in the UK blamed Daley’s “celebrity,” the pressure that he’s under by merely being one of the major faces of British Olympians. Many blamed Daley’s fiancé, the American screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. For what it’s worth, I don’t think it was DLB. They kept doing cutaways to Dustin and he was sitting with Daley’s mom, being completely supportive. I got the impression that DLB knew how much work Daley had put into it, and Dustin was just heartbroken to see Daley’s dreams slip away.
Truly heartbroken. but I will never give up on my dream of being an Olympic champion. pic.twitter.com/lflU8vACod
— Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994) August 20, 2016
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
Sorry to sound cruel, but I laughed at this.
Daley annoys the feck out of me, for some reason.
You big blue meanie! The Sixlets were even worse. They went around shouting CHOKER! CHOKER! for hours on end.
Ha Ha they sound like my sort of kids..
Your kiddos are awesome sauce.
I watched him come first with a PB in the prelims, diving out of his skin, and was thinking “save some for tomorrow” Tom.
Somebody who trained so hard for so long for an event would have to be a lot more annoying than Tom Daley before I laughed at what happened.
I agree 100%. I met Tom when he was 11 years old and he told me his dream was to be in the Olympics. At the time I thought it was sweet. I had no idea he was a diver, I just assumed he was like one of the many, many kids who dream of playing in the premiership, but can’t get out of bed when puberty hits. Well believe me, that was one dedicated and focused little boy and I feel awful for him.
edit – I just read that back and even to me it sounds fake. There was a good reason why I asked a boy I had never met before what he wanted most, but I am not going to share. The only reason I remembered it was that he won a big competition shortly after that and it was in the local paper.
I thought the same thing! I was like, don’t peek now Tom. He is a little annoying, but I felt completely badly for him. Poor guy.
I most definitely didn’t laugh. I’ve let anxiety take me over when it was the worst day to let it happen. Gotta get back on it and try again. Not easy.
The wheels completely came off for Daley. I felt pretty bad for him, because judging by the previous round he was totally prepared and ready for the Olympics.
Unlike my horrible children, I also felt bad for him. He’s got boy band levels of fandom here and, while it’s part of the package if you’re a pop star, it must have a slightly different impact on an athlete. And he’s had a lot of crap in his life what with his father dying and the bullying at school.
And then everyone and his wife messed up in the final! It must have been SO frustrating to watch it.
I was watching the round on Friday and he was amazing, I thought he’d at least get a medal. Then I heard he’d crashed out.
I watched him hit so well in the prelims and wondered if he’d accidentally laid his best on the table too early.
Ugh, I felt really bad for him. He was unbelievable in the prelims, so it was rough to see him unravelling like that.
He was doing so well in the earlier rounds.Honestly, I think his fiancé was a distraction. When you’re competing at that level you can’t have any distractions.
He just couldn’t pull it together for some reason. His prelims were great, it’s not like he hadn’t trained enough or anything like that. Nerves? Illness? Something was off for sure.
My thoughts, too. Maybe simply tiredness as well.
He was incredible in the prelims, but he’s still only 22. As heartbreaking as this is for him, he’s come away with a medal and still got Tokyo and probably 2024 ahead of him.
Wishing only the best for him in the future 😊
He did came first in the preliminary round so people were assuming he will get at least a medal of any colour. He seems a nice kid, a little too showbizzy for my taste but that’s just me. Being a good-looking athlete will always get you attention so I don’t think it’s completely his fault why the press hype him so much.
He is out, proud and pretty. Perfect for hungry Paparazi.
I felt sorry for him, he really was the best in the Pre.
we all have days where we fail spectacularly at something we normally do well. it must be so much harder and so much more embarrassing when it happens on such a large stage. poor guy.
Are we…are we not going to talk about the hotness of David Boudia?
I’ll talk about it all you want. Hot daaaaaaaaaaaammmmmnnnnnn.
Hmm. He may be hot to look at but the vibe I get from him is really off. Not because he credits Jesus for his success…but because I just can’t shake the fact that someone has intervened heavily with a gay conversion agenda. He just makes me sort of sad.
Esmom- Good grief. Just because “I just can’t shake the fact that someone has intervened heavily with a gay conversion agenda” doesn’t mean that actually happened. That’s something you made up in your head. You realize that right?
He makes me sad bc he is married to a beautiful blonde lady and has a beautiful blonde baby and idk, the reasons it might not work out for us just keep piling up.
Zulus Girl, I admit my comment is speculative, as gossip sometimes tends to be, but it’s not “something I made up in my head.” Good grief. Speculation has abounded for years. If it’s true, it’s sad. I wish him happiness and success regardless.
Perhaps it was the anxiety and pressure of bringing home a medal. Same happened to one of our athletes, apparently he was the fav to win but got DQ’ed for a false start.
Its truly heartbreaking to watch this athletes, who have trained most of their lives, realize that their Olympic dream is not coming true, not yet.
Daley is still young tho, anyone knlws how long do divers keep competing?
I feel so bad for him. The pressure of having to bring home a medal must be unbearable.
He is young, I would guess he’s got at least another Olympics in him. I also think the pressure must be unreal and that was a huge factor in his unraveling. I saw a couple other athletes “disappoint” their countries by not medaling and their anguish is hard to watch.
So that is what it takes for a guy to be blamed for his partner’s performance! So if you are gay or a woman you are responsible for how the man your dating performs professionally. Good to know. Just like how Jessica Simpson is to blame for Romo not being at his best as a quarterback while they were dating (to the point of getting booed and declared in the newspaper as a curse) but the fact her lowest selling album came out when they were together is 100% her fault.
It’s never the male partner’s fault if a female athlete performs under par. No, that’s squarely on her. Urgh.
For being the strong sex, men do have easily diverted minds apparently…
Yeah, I’m weary about blaming partners too but maybe its not so off here? I mean the fact that he was still a teen when DLB showed up, their huge age difference and the lifestyle change that a Hollywood director comes with; that stuff could mess with his mind training. And since consistency involves mastering the mind, failing to do so means that one error can send you into a self doubting spiral which sounds like what happened. Anyway, I dont like them together and I hope Tom escapes, finds a nice guy closer to his age and gets to live the youth thats been snatched from him. Sam Smith is still available, I believe.
No please, not Sam Smith.
More ClingY than Lance Black.
People blamed Bobby Brown for the downward drug spiral of Whitney Houston 😉
Now that the dopeing problem in Russia has down to light, but not solved and not over, it’s time to look at China with their dopeing issues. I seriously doubt they aren’t running the same type of state sponsored dopeing program.
That wouldn’t have as much of an impact on diving. What we’re seeing here is the result of the Chinese state-sponsored program. Kids are recruited from a young age and move to a training center. It’s why the Chinese divers have such amazing technique – lifelong focus and commitment with very few distractions.
UK and USA were ahead of China in the medal count, maybe they should be investigated first. Athletes from every country have been caught doping including athletes from Western countries. Until there is concrete evidence let them enjoy their success, the Chinese have worked hard to achieve their dreams, like all the other Olympians.
1) the US is under a ton of scrutiny when it comes to doping
2) there has been plenty of concrete evidence over the years about Chinese athletes being forced to dope (which is actually similar to what’s going on with the Russians).
It happens. It’s elite sports- all the athletes out there are the best in their fields. If you have a bad day, went to bed a bit late, had something unfamiliar for lunch, an argument with your mom- it’s all down to these details.
Olympians not performing as well as you hoped they would is all part of the drama of the Olympics. In the Netherlands, we have been hyping sprinting megatalent Dafne Schippers for about a year now. She surely was going to win the 100 and 200 metres. Alas, she got a minor injury in her leg just days after arriving in Rio and finished 5th on the 100 metres (and won silver on the 200 metres, an amazing accomplishment she said she ‘couldn’t enjoy at all’). My point? We put a lot of pressure on our athletes, expecting them to be even more superhuman than they already are.
She looked so unhappy with that silver in the 200. The truth is, unless your name is Usain Bolt or Mo Farah, there are just no sure things.
I felt so bad for him! I’m generally a figure skating fan, so I’m familiar with the phenomenon of very talented athletes who somehow fall to pieces when standing under Olympic rings. It’s horribly frustrating.
Yay! It’s so nice to hear someone else actually admit to being a figure skating fan! 😉 But yeah, that is one sport where athletes consistently fall apart under the pressure of competing sometimes at the most critical times.
I think perhaps part of the reason people are wondering if it was partly Daley’s fiancé’s ‘fault’ Daley had troubles is because one of the commentators talked about how his coaches said that Daley is very much “on” when he’s happy. They talked about how he often struggled thru the loss of his father and the stress of coming out, but he does very well when he’s in a good place emotionally. I’m definitely not saying it that anyone is to blame for his meltdown–I’m just wondering if maybe that’s where the seemingly random speculation came from.
I can’t be happy for anyone who works SO HARD to get to the Olympics (as all Olympians do)and then fails like that. I feel terrible for them. I have the most sympathy for the runners and swimmers who get disqualified after a false start. How absolutely heartbreaking for them.
I felt so bad for him. And the homophobic tweets and articles after were horrific.
He says he’s gearing up for 2020. I hope so, his diving is fantastic and he certainly has many years left to compete if he chooses. He can go for the next 3 Olympics, realistically.
Let’s not forget he brings home a bronze for the synchro event. He is in no way the failure some on social media would like him to be.
This was so sad to watch. I’ve always wondered about Daley’s nerves though. Remember in London when he had to redo a dive because of “camera flashes”? Athletes are pretty used to cameras so I was surprised by that and wondered about his nerves since. I think he got inside his own head, poor guy.
It wasn’t so much camera flashes but a wall of camera flashes going off at the same time and during a dive a diver has to have a sense of orientation to know when to open up the dive . The flashes obscured that and when you only a have 10 meter fall you can’t recover that .
Why do the Brits hate him so much? I was on some other site and they were actively praying he would fail. It was so odd. He was still representing their country. He was amazing in the prelims and his nerves just seem to get the better of him in the finals. I felt bad for him and I’m not British.
I’m British and I was absolutely devastated for him. I think the pressure of doing so well (a new personal best for him in the premlims) was his ultimate downfall. I’m not sure why people are blaming DLB either. There was a program on here in the UK documenting Daley over four years from London to Rio. DLB came across as nothing but supportive, sweet and loyal. I actually think they are good together (even if the age difference is dubious). From the documentary you got the impression that DLB actually calmed Daley down who actually has ADHD. You could also see just how hard Daley had worked for this :(. I think he probably has one more Olympics left in him but that’t it. He’s been diving from such a young age that he won’t be able to continue as long as other people, he pretty much said as much 🙁
Because he’s young, handsome, and popular with young women. It’s the reaction any teen idol gets, because anything young women like must be mortifying to everyone else and be dismissed and disparaged
I think a lot of it has to do with plain homophobia combined with talent and hard work that irks some people the wrong way , especially when they can’t get it together . And there is also the fact that a lot of people are pretty casual diving fans and only ever see the Olympics , maybe .They don’t look for grainy live streams of FINA World Series Events , this kind of stuff. They don’t get the in between , they don’t get his training schedule because they don’t look for it specifically so they think he’s hopping around the party scene or something . I’ve been following Tom pretty much since Beijing and apart from 2013 when he was injured or sick through much of the year (again something people who only go for Olympics don’t know much about ) has consistently been great while dealing with a clear mental block regarding his old twister dive (the one he had to redive in London ). And that’d what I fear now , that he’ll develop a complete Olympics block . I mean in May he won the European Championships with 570 points with no wobble , no sign of twister problems . He started solid into the semis and then broke down during the competiton and it was heartbreaking to see .
When I was watching the commentators in the UK were saying that it was pretty windy outside. I do have to wonder whether this had an affect on his dives too? I was surprised the pool was outside and not inside like most venues? It was just really sad to watch. I was desperately willing him to do well, especially when you can see he wanted it so badly.
He was at the Finding Dory premiere judging by the photo above. Maybe celeb events like that hurt? How soon do Olympians go into that preparatory ‘cocoon’? I don’t know if he himself is a problem but just personally Black gives me the creeps–the age difference, the clinginess, the overprocessedness of his look. IDK exactly what it is.
They don’t hurt . And I’m honestly sick and tired of hearing it . Why, because these events are clearly in his free time . Free time he has because after his move to London he now starts his training day earlier and has no school blocks in it so he also finishes earlier than before .
I feel bad for him tbqh. Way too many 2012 Olympic champions who won medals in Rio but still get given stick for not being ‘good enough’ – whether it’s Tom, Gabby Douglas, or Missy Franklin.
I’m not sure I should even say it because I’m not an athlete , just somebody who has followed Tom’s career for about 8 years now , but what hurts me the most is the glee that some people have for him failing publicly like that . Like they enjoy hitting somebody who is already down enough .
He had Gold in him, and still does.
He annoys me slightly in that it seems he has embraced his celebrity a bit too much at the expense of his talent.
I mean did anybody even know who Katie Ledecky was before Rio?
He needs to refocus.