Gold Medal-Winning Olympic Diver
Tom Daley: Biography at a Glance
- Tom Daley is the biggest name in the world of diving and one of the most popular sportsmen in Great Britain.
- He has competed in 5 Olympic Games, earning 5 Olympic medals. Daley won medals at every level of the sport, including Silver at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Gold and Bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Gold at three World Championships, and Bronze at both the London and Rio Olympics.
- He first made a name for himself when he won the European 10m platform gold as a 13-year-old in 2008; reaching the Olympic final at 2008’s Beijing Summer Olympics, to become Britain’s second youngest male Olympian of all time.
- Daley uses his platform to elevate the conversation around LGBTQ+ rights and activism. In 2018, he appealed to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, asking nations that still had anti-LGBTQ laws to repeal them. Daley’s influence led to pressure being put on nations by United Kingdom heads of government, creating a major impact outside of the U.K.
- In his deeply personal book, Coming Up for Air, Tom explores the experiences that have shaped him including the resilience he developed competing at a world-class level, the courage he discovered while reclaiming the narrative around his sexuality, and the perspective that family life has brought him.
- After he and his husband Dustin Lance Black welcomed their first child, Daley credits fatherhood as one of the main drivers that have helped him mature into one of the top divers on the planet.
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Biography
Tom Daley is the world’s biggest name in diving and one of Great Britain’s most successful sportspeople of all time.
Becoming European Champion by winning his first diving gold at the age of 13, the youngest person to ever do so, Tom Daley went on to win five Olympic medals across five Olympics, representing Team GB in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and most recently the 2024 Paris Games. An Olympic gold medallist and a multi-World Champion, Tom Daley is a household name and national treasure with global appeal outside of just his sport.
When Tom won his first gold at Tokyo 2020, images of him knitting poolside circulated the globe, with his dedicated knitting Instagram account, @Madewithlovebytomdaley gaining a million followers overnight. Dubbed the ‘Tom Daley effect,’ by The Guardian, all eyes were on what he would knit at Paris 2024 as he brings a whole new audience to the craft.
An LGBTQ+ activist, Tom has used his platform to propel the conversation around LGBTQ+ rights. From fundraising initiatives for LGBTQ+ charities to wearing Pride badges as he stepped onto the podium in countries where it’s illegal to be gay, the Commonwealth Games in 2022 saw Tom appeal to the Commonwealth Heads of Governments to better their LGBTQ+ laws as he marched in the opening ceremony carrying a Progress Pride Flag.
A multi-Sunday Times best-selling author, founder of knitting brand bytomdaley.com, three-time BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year winner, and an OBE recipient, Tom Daley lives in LA with his husband Dustin Lance Black and their sons Robbie and Phoenix.
