Thread by @Telegraph

🥇13 years, 4 #Olympics and now 1 #GOLD

Here's the remarkable story of Tom Daley

Thread ~
telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2021/…

"It is Daley’s story that elevates this accomplishment to the realm of the epic"

📅The mingling of childhood precocity and family tragedy
📽️The decision to announce his sexuality on YouTube
🥇The agonised pursuit of a gold he feared would never come

📸Almost his entire life, Tom Daley has grown up in the public eye.

Many still picture him as a cherubic 12-year-old, talking about his love of Nintendo

"The initial perception of Daley is of a figure coursing with confidence...but psychologically, he has often been scrambled"

➡️In 2011, he moved schools due to relentless bullying.

"He has often seemed jaded by the merciless scrutiny that has come with fame"

There was, of course, one acutely-missed absentee from Tom Daley’s #Tokyo2020 celebrations.

His father, Rob, who died from a brain tumour in 2011

Daley would acknowledge later that he did not even give himself time to grieve the loss of his father.

Instead, he hurled himself into his preparations for London 2012 to palliate the pain.

It was in the aftermath that he sensed his life was falling apart

Daley evolved from the diver who internalised everything to somebody determined to turn off the filter.

📽️He released a short video to say: “I met someone. And they make me feel so happy, so safe and everything just feels great. And? Well? That someone is a guy.”

🎬The 'guy' in question was Oscar-winning film director Dustin Lance Black

💒The two married in 2017

🏳️‍🌈Daley remains an eloquent spokesman for the LGBT community.

This was a role he did not lose sight of as his gold medal was placed around his neck:

🥇“I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion”

👶Daley and Black have a surrogate son named Robbie

"A permanent reminder of the father who did so much to inspire Daley’s ascent to these dazzling Olympic deeds"

"Daley’s significance as an athlete has long extended beyond the contortions through which he puts his body in his leaps off the high board"

📽️ Vlogger
🏳️‍🌈 Activist
👨‍👨‍👦 Father

And now.. Olympic Champion

🥇"Daley can declare with conviction that his life is complete. He has had his every growing pain played out in front of millions."

"Now, he has his perfect ending. Nobody deserves it more"

Read more from @oliverbrown_tel ⬇️
telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2021/…