British diver, Thomas Daley, failed to make it to Saturday Olympic men’s final of the 10-meter platform diving after surprisingly finishing in the last place in the semi-finals.
The 22-year-old Thomas Daley said he was completely “heartbroken” after the results. After getting eliminated from the Olympic 10m platform diving competition, he said that although yesterday he scored the highest score ever in an Olympic Games, this time, it was not the case.
“That’s what diving does sometimes”, he added.
A hard to accept bronze medal
Thomas “Tom” Daley was born in 1994. He has been a diver since he was a 7-year-old boy, and he specializes in the 10.metre platform event. He has accomplished a lot in such a short period. At 15, he was the 2009 FINA World Champion in the individual event. He won 2 gold medals for England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the 10m individual platform and the 10m synchro diving competition, the last one alongside Max Brick. He is also known as a television personality since he participated in the television network ITV’ reality show “Splash!”
At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, he received at the individual competition a bronze medal. And now, he won bronze, one more time, at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Daley needed 102 points on his closing dive to reach the final. However, he only reached 50.40 to finish with 403.25. He finished 18th and last. The top 12 divers went through to the finals.
“It’s really hard to accept. I’ve worked so hard,” he said, especially when he achieved his personal best of 571.85 in Friday’s preliminary round.
On the other hand, China’s Chen Aisen was at the first spot with 559.90, more than 150 points ahead of the Daley. Unfortunately, with the points he had in the semifinals, 571.85, he could have managed to win gold in the 2012 summer Olympic Games.
‘I could have won tonight’
The classification of the British diver, seemed obvious to everyone especially after he and his partner, Dan Goodfellow, won bronze in the men synchro competition. But it was a bad luck and a shocking day for Tom after two of his worst scores, in an international competition, finished his way to the gold medal in Rio.
“I truly am heartbroken because I feel like I am in the peak physical condition and I could have won tonight,” he said.
He started strong on his first dive but later made an awkward entrance to the water. The bronze medalist was at the top out of 24 divers in the qualification round to end then at last.
The director of the British Diving’s performance said that Daley was in the best shape of his career, but he assured that Tom would be able to compete again in Tokyo 2020.
“I’m so happy with how GB have done, so proud to be part of it and I wanted to be able to stand on top of that podium, so it will be another four years’ hard work,” he said.
Source: BBC Sports