Diver Tom Daley calls for lifting of Olympic age rules, despite own ‘tough’ Beijing debut
British 2021 gold medallist explains why he ‘tortured myself’ during opening three Olympic appearances, and method of managing ‘jarring retirement’
Diving icon Tom Daley said athletes of all ages should be free to compete at the Olympics, despite acknowledging that his own Games debut, aged 14, was a “tough and intense” experience that led to his being bullied at school.
Daley brought down the curtain on an astonishing career following this summer’s Paris Olympics, where he added a silver medal to his gold and bronze from Tokyo, and bronzes from the Games in London and Rio.
On Tuesday, the 30-year-old attended the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Philanthropy for Better Cities Forum at Palace Museum, where, speaking on a panel alongside husband and Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, he championed investment in arts and sports.
Daley became an overnight phenomenon when he went to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The youth baton was most recently picked up by skateboarder Zheng Haohao, who was 11 when she competed in the French capital. Compatriot Quan Hongchan won diving gold in Tokyo as a 14-year-old.
Englishman Daley said his “excitement” before Beijing gave way to “trouble at school afterwards with bullying”.
“People didn’t understand the passion I had for diving,” Daley told the Post. “Being in the public eye so young was quite intense, and if I think about an 11- or 12-year-old in that situation, it is a lot to deal with.