Tom Daley, the reigning Olympic champion, relinquished his title on Monday but secured an emotional silver medal alongside partner Noah Williams in the men’s synchronized 10m platform event at the Tokyo Olympics. The Chinese duo of Lian Junjie and Yang Hao emerged victorious, marking their dominance in the sport.
Daley, 30, has now amassed five Olympic medals across five Games. In 2021, he triumphed in the same event with Matty Lee at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games. Lian and Yang, three-time world champions, established their superiority from the outset, leaving no room for doubt.
They amassed a score of 490.35, surpassing Daley and Williams’ 463.44 and the Canadian pair of Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray’s 422.13. Daley and Williams engaged in a fierce battle for second place with the Canadians but ultimately prevailed in the latter half of the competition.
The medal held profound significance for both Britons, particularly Williams, who was overcome with emotion as he remembered his former coach, Dave Jenkins, who passed away in 2021. Daley, who lost his father to cancer in 2011, expressed his admiration for Williams’ resilience.
“I’ve never seen Noah cry in my whole life,” Daley said. “I know how much today means to him. It’s very sad Dave is not here, but I know Dave and my dad would both be so proud to see us here today.”
Daley made his Olympic debut at the tender age of 14 in Beijing in 2008. He earned his first Olympic medal, a bronze, at the 2012 London Games. He repeated the feat in Rio and Tokyo before finally claiming gold in the men’s synchronized 10m platform event in Tokyo.
Daley, an LGBTQ activist married to Hollywood scriptwriter Dustin Lance Black, had taken a break from the sport until his six-year-old son, Rob, inspired him to return. “It’s just so special,” Daley said. “This time last year, I was deciding to come back, never mind not knowing if I would make the synchro team. Doing it in front of my son who asked me to come back is so special. I now have one of every color. I’ve completed the set.”
Daley and Black also have a second son, Phoenix Rose. Daley’s long-time coach, Jane Figueiredo, praised the duo’s performance. “Excited, fearless, just over the moon for both of them,” she said. “There’s been a lot going on behind the scenes for both of them, to come and achieve a silver medal is absolutely brilliant. China was just too good. We hung in there, but it was brilliant.”
The Chinese team maintained their lead throughout the competition, but Lian acknowledged the pressure they faced from Daley and Williams. “We feel very excited about winning,” he said. “There was a lot of pressure during the competition because the British team were very consistent. They were so close.”
