London 2012: Diver Tom Daley 'stronger' after family heartache

By Nick Hope BBC Olympic sports reporter

TOM DALEY ON THE BBC

• Monday 23 July at 22:35 BST on BBC One: Tom Daley - Diving for Britain

Double Commonwealth champion Tom Daley says he wants to win an Olympic medal for his family after a difficult year.

Tom's father Rob Daley passed away last May and the diver was criticised in early 2012 from within the GB camp over his media commitments.
"It's about time we got some good news in our family," Daley told BBC Sport.

Daley on his Dad

"My dad was always Olympic crazy, he absolutely loved it and it was his big thing when he came and watched me in Beijing - he was just so proud to say that his son was an Olympian. It's great to know that he's always been so supportive and I definitely think he's still looking after me now."

"It's definitely been a tough year, but it's helped me gain a lot of motivation and inspiration and made me stronger."

A 'Tom Daley - Diving for Britain' documentary will air on BBC One at 22:35 on Monday 23 July.
Daley made his Olympic debut four years ago, where at 14 he was the youngest member of the British team to compete in Beijing.
He finished seventh in the individual 10m platform event and eighth alongside Blake Aldridge in the synchro competition. A year later, he secured victory at the World Championships in Rome.
Rob Daley was believed to be in remission following the removal of a brain tumour in 2006, however a scan in 2010 revealed it had returned.
He was not well enough to travel to Delhi, but Tom still managed to win double Commonwealth gold.
"We kind of knew that it was inevitable, it was just a question of when. For us and for me it brought me closer to my dad throughout the whole thing. I think if he didn't have that brain tumour we wouldn't have been so close, it's great that we've had that really strong connection."
At the 2011 World Championships Daley finished fifth, eight weeks after his father lost his battle with his condition.
"There was loads of pressure because the media was asking, 'Is he going to perform well, is he not?'" Daley added.
"I wasn't prepared properly because I had just lost my dad and it was about going in there and giving it my best shot. I know he would have wanted me to have carried on."

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GB divers in LMFAO lip sync video tribute

In February of this year, GB diving performance director Alexei Evangulov decided against entering Daley into the 10m individual event and then compared him to Russian tennis-flop Anna Kournikova after the Plymouth-born diver finished seventh alongside Peter Waterfield in the synchro competition.
Daley, 18, insisted he had never missed a training session due to media commitments and that he pays little attention to what the media say about him.
"To be honest I don't watch anything, I don't look at the papers," Daley said.
"I look at some of the pictures and watch some of my dives back but apart from that I focus on training and competitions. I can't focus on what others are writing or saying - so I have to focus on myself."
Daley claimed overall victory in the World Series in April and followed that up with an impressive European Championship gold and new British record score in Eindhoven in May.
He secured qualification for London 2012 with victory at the GB Olympic trials in Sheffield and his first event, 10m synchro, will take place on Monday 30 July.
The teenager will then return for the 10m individual preliminaries on 10 August.
"London 2012 is the biggest thing in my life," Daley said.
"It's going to be an amazing experience and I'm going to really try and go in there and do the best six dives that I could ever do. For me it means everything."
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Tom Daley relives his Beijing Olympic experience and looks to London