Tom Daley
Thursday 12 June 2008
n2k chats to Tom Daley about life as a professional diver, training, music and more.
What is diving?
Diving is a competitive sport where you perform acrobatics while jumping from a platform into water.
There are six groups into which diving can be classified – forward, back, inward, reverse, twist and armstand. There are also various diving positions which can affect the movement of the dive. You have to be flexible, strong and disciplined.
Keen to give it a try? You can find diving courses and pools in your area through the British Swimming and Amateur Swimming Association website.
Who is Tom Daley?
Tom Daley is a 14 year old diver who specialises in the 10 metre platform event. He started diving when he was seven and decided to go for the Olympics after winning the under 18 national platform title at the age of 10.
Tom has since gone to achieve record breaking stuff - from winning junior championships to winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Young Personality award in 2007.
He counts his gold medal at the 2008 European Championships as his biggest achievement. Watch him in action.
What does it feel like to be in a world full of adults?
At first it was a little weird but then as I began doing more senior competitions it became normal and now it is weird competing against my own age.
Competing at such a young age, do you feel that you've had to grow up really quickly?
Not really because I still have my 14 year old days and I am still alllowed to act like a kid sometimes (but only when appropriate) after all I am still a kid. But I have had a great childhood because I get to go to all these places around the world.
How do you feel about representing your country in the Olympics?
I am really looking forward to it. I can only get good experiences out of the Olympics because if I have a good performance then I will have a massive confidence boost or if I have a bad performance I will learn from it and then in London 2012 I will be an Olympic guru.
What's your training routine?
I train six days a week and have Sunday off. I train 3 hours a week when I am at school but when it is in the holidays or on a training camp I would train 6 hours a week.
Our training is split 50/50 with dry land training and water based work we do weights, trampolining conditioning and lots of stretching.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to hang out with my mates or go to cinema. I love listening to music, I don’t have a favourite band but I like R&B, hip-hop and dance music - anything that makes me happy. I hate sad songs.
What kind of advice would you give to other young people who want to get into competitive sports?
Work hard and success will follow. If you put 100 percent effort in you will have more chance of achieving your dreams, and never give up.
Find out more about the team GB 2008 Olympic team.
