Tom Daley had secret all-or-nothing surgery just eight weeks before winning Tokyo 2020 gold with riskiest possible dive
TOM Daley completed one of the great sporting comeback stories to grab Olympic gold - and revealed he was in the operating theatre just eight weeks ago.
The 27-year-old and partner Matty Lee showed nerves of pure steel as they stunned world and Olympic champions Yuan Chao and Aisen Chen of China to take 10m platform synchro glory.
Five years ago in Rio, Daley was a picture of dejection as he walked away with a solitary bronze medal, having gone to Brazil believing he would be top of the podium.
On Monday, just yards from the Tokyo Aquatics Centre spot where Adam Peaty had touched out for gold less than five hours earlier, Daley’s 19-year odyssey was completed.
But the poster boy of British diving then admitted he had feared all-or-nothing knee surgery at the start of June might have left him a Tokyo 2020 TV spectator.
Daley said: "I’ve had many doubts this moment would ever come.
"In 2018 I had broken shins and I didn't know whether I would be able to do my running platform take-offs again.
"I started doing synchro with Matty in October 2018 but this whole period has been really ropey.
"It started off last year when I broke my hand and then wasn’t sure I’d get back in time for the Olympics as they were planned.
"They got delayed, lockdown and I got all kinds of sickness, with everything you could have at that time.
"Then in June I tore my meniscus and had to have knee surgery. There was a chance I wouldn’t be here in the first place because I had to have it removed.
"It was something that had been there for a while.
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"The meniscus is like a cartilage in the knee and it flipped up and stuck in my joint.
"It meant it was locked and I couldn’t actually straighten my leg or walk or do anything. They explained the risks of surgery but it was either surgery or I couldn’t walk. I had to risk it."
Maybe that willingness to take a punt explains why Daley and 23-year-old Yorkshireman Lee gambled their Olympic hopes on the riskiest dive in the sport.
The Brit pair had taken advantage of a rare error by the Chinese duo to leapfrog into the lead after four of their six dives.
But that gap was reduced to just two points with one dive left.
Daley and Lee had opted for the toughest dive possible, a forward four and half somersault with a 3.7 degree of difficulty.
Get it wrong, and they might even have dropped out of the medal hunt. All or nothing.
But the whoops from the other Team GB divers sitting poolside as Daley and Lee hit the water was matched by the reaction of Daley’s coach Jane Figueiredo.
It scored 101.01, for a total of 471.81, leaving the Chinese a virtually impossible task to win.
Figueiredo suggested the draw, which saw Britain go fifth in each round and the Chinese last, had been a vital factor.
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She said: "China are so dominant and strong but we knew we could potentially beat them if we were in front and putting on the pressure.
"If we’re after them you don’t have a chance. Being in front I felt if we could just apply the pressure.
"Our goal was to be within three-four points after two dives and that’s exactly where we were."
Even so, it then required nerveless completion of the most intricate of dives for Daley and Lee to take advantage of the pressure they created.
Lee, who idolised Daley when he asked for his autograph at the age of 10 in 2008, said: "Even after our dive and theirs, we didn't know we'd won.
"There's a little Omega timing board at the side of the pool which comes up with one or two and it comes up before the big one so we know to look at that.
"We were waiting and hoping to see a two and we did - and I just lost my crap."
Daley clenched his fists and then leapt into his partner’s arms.
He said: "Matty picked me up and I was like 'Blooming heck, I'm falling over - I can't believe it’.
"We couldn't put a foot wrong in this competition if we were going to win it although we both visualised us winning and believed we could win.
"Laying in bed I would visualise my dive over and over again. It played out how we visualised it every day."
The stuff of dreams, indeed. What a day.
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