Tom Daley can barely swim a full length.
The 24-year-old diver – who won bronze in the 10-metre platform event during the 2012 Olympics – may have no trouble launching himself off a diving board from a tremendous height, but he has admitted he’s a really poor swimmer and struggles to get to the edge of the pool in one go without panting.
Speaking in an interview with Lauren Laverne on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, the athlete admitted he finds diving "terrifying" because it mainly involves staying balanced while walking to the edge of the board.
He explained: "When you are that high up, it feels that the diving board narrows and narrows, almost like you are on a balancing beam that you could fall off at any moment. There is this overwhelming feeling of adrenaline. All of your senses are completely heightened. It’s a really weird, almost out-of-body experience to stand up there because if you actually think about what you are doing, no sane-minded human would actually do it.
"I am not that strong a swimmer. I can swim to the edge of the pool. But doing a 50-metre length, I am actually knackered by the end of it."
And, although his career is important to him, Tom’s outlook on life has changed since he welcomed his son Robbie into the world with his husband Dustin Lance Black in June.
He explained: "There are bigger things than Olympic medals. My Olympic medal is Robbie. I feel incredibly lucky to wake up and see our little Robbie Ray in his little bed. He is just the cutest little thing.
"So I want to make sure that every little second I am away from him in training, I am doing the best that I can do, to make sure it is damn worth it."
Tom Daley can’t swim a length
