Olympic champion Tom Daley has said he will return to diving to target a spot at Paris 2024 after a request from his young son.
Daley, 29, won Olympic gold alongside Matty Lee in the men’s synchronised 10m platform at the Tokyo Games, his fourth Olympics after his debut as a teenager at Beijing 2008 and fourth medal after a trio of bronzes.
The three-time world champion has taken two years out since then, saying he had “in theory retired”, but he detailed in his latest YouTube video how a chat with his five-year-old son has inspired him to return to the sport.
Daly’s recent trip to Colorado Springs in the United States has helped refocus his mind just 12 months from the Games, with the location playing a role in his thinking.
Daley and his husband Dustin Lance Black travelled to Colorado for the birth of their second son, with Daley saying he had not realised its status as an Olympic city until they arrived.
He then took eldest son Robbie to the museum there and felt inspired to attempt a return.
“Robbie said to me, ‘Papa, I want to see you dive in the Olympics’,” Daley said. “It has lit a new flame in me to see where this goes, I don’t know where this is going to go.
“I don’t know if this is going to be a completely silly idea of me getting back in the pool or an opportunity for me to do this recreationally and have a bit of fun without any pressure, or if my body is going to be able to get back on a diving board and dive half-decently.
“I don’t know what that’s going to look like. Paris 2024 is definitely a goal. I don’t know if it’s going to be possible but you never say never.”
Tom Daley and Matty Lee took glory in Tokyo— (PA Archive)
Daley has recently had a second son, Phoenix, and will now try to become the first British diver to compete at five Olympic Games.
“We had the best time at time at the Olympic and Paralympic Museum playing different games and at the end we went into a room to watch a video about what it means to be an athlete and see those inspirational journeys,” added Daley.
“I just wept; I couldn’t control myself, I hadn’t grieved diving. I hadn’t been doing it anymore and that I in theory had retired and couldn’t imagine going back to doing it again.
“Coming out of that museum something changed in me and that has lit a new flame and fire inside me to see where this goes.”
