Tom Daley: ‘Lance is the reason I’m still diving’
It’s no surprise that Tom Daley’s been busy training ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics.
But in a new interview with The Times, the Olympic diver has revealed how he almost quit diving in 2012 after winning a bronze medal.
He said, “After 2012 I had a rough time getting back into training. I lost motivation. I thought I might not want to do diving anymore, not go to another Olympics. I wanted to go out and be a normal teenager.”
“I saw a sports psychologist and had treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder from when I had to do the re-dive in London. My instant reaction was that I just didn’t want to go back up there.”
“I wanted the referee to say no dive, but he ordered a re-dive. I was the most terrified I’ve ever been in my life, thinking I could lose it again in front of 18,000 people.”
“I just couldn’t do that dive again after that. I kept seeing the flashing cameras. I had injuries. I would do the minimum in training; I was getting worse and worse. My coach told me to take time off and I travelled for eight weeks. That was the best thing I could have done.”
But he explains that his relationship with screenwriter Dustin Lance Black saved him.
“Lance is the reason I am still diving,” he says.
“In March 2013 I was at my all-time low and didn’t want to do it anymore. Then I met hi and thought, ‘This guy won’t want to be with me unless I’m successful at what I do.”
“I felt happy all of a sudden. nothing seemed confusing anymore. he is a massive, massive support for me.”
Daley, who is set to have his own ‘intimate’ documentary later this year, also states that he’s “excited” that the 2016 Olympics are close.
He also reveals how he and Lance got engaged.
“We both ended up having rings that we were ready to propose to each other with. When I thought about doing it in San Fransisco, Dolores Park was under construction.”
“When he had ideas of doing it, we were in St James’s Park and there were loads of people around.”
Eventually, Daley just proposed in the spare bedroom of their flat.
“By the end of it, I realised none of that really mattered, so I just asked him in the spare room in our flat.”
You can read the full interview over at The Times.
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