Tom Daley, British diver, knitter and fan favorite, wins 5th Olympic medal : NPR

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Among the fan favorites at the Paris Olympics is Tom Daley, Britain’s most decorated diver.

On Monday morning, Daley took silver in the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform event with teammate Noah Williams. China’s Lian Junjie and Yang Hao won gold, while Canada’s Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray earned bronze.

Daley, 30, now has five Olympic medals in his collection, including one gold and three bronze.

Even before Daley’s performance on Monday, fans from around the world were beaming to see him at the Olympics. Daley planned to retire after the Tokyo Games, but had a change of heart after visiting the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado.

“At the end, there was this video of what it means to be an Olympian, and of course, by the end of it, I was crying, and Robbie turned to me and said, ‘What’s the matter, Papa, what’s the matter?’ I said I missed diving and I missed the Olympics,” Daley told Olympics.com, referring to his oldest son. “And Robbie was like, ‘I want to see you dive at the Olympics.’ And that was that.”

On top of talent, fans love Daley for his humor, his family and his knitting — among other reasons.

The world watched Daley grow up

Daley made his Olympic debut at just 14 years old in 2008, becoming the youngest athlete to compete for Britain at the Games in nearly 50 years. He did not win a medal in Beijing, but it was clear that he had a long, promising career ahead of him.

The world watched on as Daley grew taller and his voice deepened. Fans also admired Daley’s honesty about being bullied by classmates after the Olympics. At 14, Daley temporarily withdrew from school as a result. Later in life, he became an advocate against bullying.

“If you’re being bullied at school, you’re not the only one,” he told the BBC in 2009.

Then, leading up to his second Olympics, fans saw 17-year-old Daley navigate the loss of his father to brain cancer in 2011.

The following year, the young diver took home his first Olympic medal — a bronze — in London. He did it again in 2016. And in 2020, at age 27, Daley struck gold, as well as bronze again, in Tokyo and became the most decorated diver in Britain’s history.

He’s a family man

Daley is not the only person his fans adore, but also his husband and two young sons.

From the stands in Paris, Daley’s 6- and 1-year-old boys wore “Team Daley” T-shirts, while husband Dustin Lance Black’s eyes watered with pride as Daley performed.

Daley has been in a relationship with Black since 2013, when Daley boldly told the world he was in a relationship with a man via a video on Youtube. Since then, Daley has also been a prominent activist for LGBTQ rights.

“I met someone, and it made me feel so happy, so safe and everything just feels great, and well that someone is a guy,” he said in 2013.

And he knits!

Out of the pool, Daley captured people’s hearts with his favorite pastime: knitting.

On his social media accounts, Daley regularly posts tips on how to knit and photos of his handmade pieces. But his most viral and lauded knitting moment occurred at the Tokyo Olympics, when cameras captured Daley knitting in the stands.

In an interview with NPR after the Tokyo Olympics, Daley said it was initially his coach who suggested he try knitting because he’s “terrible at sitting still and resting and recovering.”

“It just turned into my mindfulness, my meditation, my calm and my way to escape the stresses of everyday life and, in particular, going into an Olympics,” he told NPR.

His passion for yarn is so strong that he launched his own knitting shop, as well as wrote a book, Made with Love, which includes some of his favoriting knitting and crocheting patterns.

Already, clips of Daley knitting in his seat while watching this year’s Games are making the rounds — bringing joy to the knitting community and sports fans alike.