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Page 3 Profile: Tom Daley, Olympic diver

 

Beren Cross
Tuesday 03 December 2013 01:00 GMT
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Tom Daley, Olympic diver
Tom Daley, Olympic diver

It’s more than two years until the next Olympics. How’s our Tom keeping busy?

Daley is travelling out to Houston for a training camp in the coming days as his preparations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio continue - but he took time out yesterday to make an announcement before he departs.

Sounds intriguing...

Indeed. Shortly after 10am yesterday he Tweeted a link to a video he had recorded and uploaded to YouTube, in which he revealed he has been in a gay relationship since spring. He said: “In spring this year my life changed massively when I met someone, and they make me feel so happy, so safe and everything just feels great. That someone is a guy. It did take me by surprise a little bit. It was always in my head that something like that could happen.”

Why did he feel the need to explain himself to people?

The diver said he felt angry after his words had been twisted in a recent newspaper interview, and that he wanted to put an end to the speculation which has circulated since he first shot to fame and became a pin-up for both men and women. Daley was voted “World’s Sexiest Man” by the gay magazine Attitude this year.

What’s the response been like?

The 19-year-old has long denied he is gay and he presumed, in the video, he would be branded a liar. But the vast majority of his 2.4 million Twitter followers reacted positively. Stonewall, the campaigning gay rights organisation, called Daley’s video “moving and inspiring”, describing him as “a role model for thousands of other young people”.

When are we likely to see him next?

Adverts have already started to spring up on ITV for the second series of Splash, which will air next year. The 2012 London Olympic bronze medallist will be tutoring the celebrities on the diving show.

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