It had taken a dramatic U-turn to lure Tom Daley back to the Team GB diving programme.
Sparked by his son Robbie’s wish to watch his father compete at another Olympics, Daley contacted his former bosses to enquire if there was a vacancy in the 10metre synchro platform diving team.
He was effectively told he could come back into the fold if Noah Williams and Matty Lee failed to win a medal at the World Championships. They came up short and it opened the door for the 30-year-old to return, further aided when Lee had to undergo surgery.
Having produced a stunning performance on Monday to win silver and complete the set of Olympic medals with a gold in Tokyo and three previous bronze medals, it led to inevitable questions about his future.
He talked about the last year with an enthusiasm not befitting of an athlete with five Olympic Games to his name and hinted at the possibility that Los Angeles in four years’ time is not an impossibility.
For one, it will be a home Games of sorts having uprooted with his Hollywood scriptwriter husband Dustin Lance Black and the couple’s two children, Robbie and Phoenix, there.
There is talk of adding a mixed 10m competition, which could likely lead to an all-star pairing with Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix in 2028.
Speaking shortly after his silver medal, he said of his future, ”I don’t really know yet because I went from being the youngest on the team in 2008 to now being the oldest diver. I want to kind of enjoy this moment and make a decision about my diving future later on.
“They might be adding different events into Los Angeles so it could be a chance to do a second home Games now I live in LA.”
The decision over Paris was instigated by Robbie on a visit to the Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs, partly down to his father’s tears when showed a video of what it meant to be an Olympian.
And Daley, who blew kisses to his husband and kids off the podium, admitted he could yet be swayed by his boys to carry on.
“Robbie has already had his token used,” he said. “We’ll see what Phoenix thinks in a few years’ time.”
It had clearly not been without its issues making these Games. For one, he and his diving partner live either side of the Atlantic and had trained for just two months together.
It begged the question what might be possible for the two, who have become good friends to the extent that Williams stayed with Daley and his family for three weeks in California earlier this year, if they trained together full-time.
“I’m so proud to come back after two years,” he said. “Fifteen months ago, I was sitting on the sofa doing nothing.
“Being able to set an example to the kids if you have a dream and work hard it doesn’t always mean you’ll achieve what you want to. But it’s the happiest I’ve been in diving in all my years.”
It makes the prospect of four more years that bit more tempting.
