Seven months before his triumph in Tokyo, Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994) was rushed to hospital with Covid
The gold medallist reveals for the first time what happened thetimes.co.uk/article/tom-da…
Britain’s most decorated diver turned crafting icon arrives on foot to his interview with The Times, a suitcase of homemade creations in tow
Daley took up needles during lockdown – sight many witnessed on the sidelines of this year’s Olympics
“My coach wanted me to find something to chill out with and stop me overthinking”
He shows off his “cosy” – a little woollen home he fashioned for his long-anticipated medal, featuring the Union Jack on one side and the Japanese flag on the other.
But When Daley speaks of the pandemic and its impact, he’s not talking about the Olympics and his diving
In January this year he began to suffer headaches and dizziness, which, initially, he put down to a mild concussion he’d sustained in training on New Year’s Eve
Then the fever took hold, veering from racking chills and chattering teeth to burning heat
He ached, felt faint, couldn’t speak more than two words and his husband, Dustin Black, had to help him walk down the stairs
The next morning, he shuffled the mile and a half to the nearest centre for a PCR test, which proved positive. Black then developed symptoms too, just as Daley’s worsened
A paramedic was dispatched and decided, given Daley’s history with pneumonia, he should be hospitalised
Chest X-rays revealed blotches on his lungs
He was given oxygen and monitored for ten hours before being sent home
He hasn't ever spoken about contracting Covid until now
“You can’t let your competitors think that they’ve got one up on you. I wanted them to think that I was training as hard as them”
There is, he thinks, a lingering 5% reduction in his cardiovascular fitness because of it
Daley says that there were moments where he had flashes of fear about whether he would be put on a ventilator, and his time being up
“I was really terrified”
thetimes.co.uk/article/tom-da…
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