Tom Daley’s diving partner said ‘I’m sorry’ the moment the pair’s golden Olympic dream bit the dust.
Peter Waterfield missed a crucial fourth dive and offered his apology
as soon as they got out of the water in the Aquatic Centre. Daley
admitted he had also mistimed his dive and replied: ‘Same.’
Daley and Waterfield led the Olympic 10metre synchronised final after
three immaculate dives, and hopes were raised that they could topple
the mighty Chinese duo of Yuan Cao and Yanquan Zhang to win gold.
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Annoyed: Tom Daley hit out at the Twitter troll
But the sight of large splashes as they entered the pool in round
four, following a reverse three-and-a-half somersault, signalled the end
of their ambitions and they finished in fourth place.
Meanwhile, Daley angrily hit out after being targeted by a Twitter troll who made reference to his late father.
Shortly after the competition, Daley retweeted a message he received which said: ‘You let your dad down i hope you know that.’
Daley responded by tweeting: ‘After giving it my all…you get idiot’s sending me this…’
Daley’s father Rob died in 2011 from brain cancer.
Speaking before the Olympics, Daley revealed his father ‘gave me all the inspiration that I’ve needed’.
The 18-year-old told the BBC: ‘Winning a medal would make all the
struggles that I’ve had worthwhile. It’s been my dream since a very
young age to compete at an Olympics.
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Edged out: Daley and partner Peter Waterfield finished in fourth
‘I’m doing it for myself and my dad. It was both our dreams from a very young age.
‘I always wanted to do it and Dad was so supportive of everything.
‘It would make it extra special to do it for him.’
When news of the insensitive tweet spread, the user attempted to apologise.
He tweeted: ‘I’m sorry mate i just wanted you to win cause its the
olympics I’m just annoyed we didn’t win I’m sorry tom accept my
apology.’
Then he later added: ‘please i don’t want to be hated I’m just sorry
you didn’t win i was rooting for you pal to do britain all proud just so
upset.’
Daley famously fell out with Blake Aldridge during the platform
synchro at the last Olympics in Beijing when he claimed his former
partner answered a phone call from his mother between dives.
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Sorry: Waterfield (right) apologised to Daley after a bad dive
Ironically, Daley’s mum was interviewed on the big screen before
their final dive on Monday, before he this time absolved his team-mate
of any blame after they fell 8.82 points short of the United States in
the bronze medal position.
‘We’re a team. At the end of the day that’s it, full stop,’ Daley said.
‘We’re a team and we win together and we lose together. We’re proud of being here at the Olympic Games in front of a home crowd.
‘It’s been a tough year for me training-wise and it’s been tough for
Pete with injury and things like that. You win as a team and you lose as
a team.’
The duo had initially whipped the home support, which included Prime
Minister David Cameron, into a frenzy of noise as they claimed the lead
after the best opening three dives of their career.
After a near-perfect compulsory set Daley attracted a perfect 10,
with Waterfield not far behind, for their back three-and-a-half
somersaults to leave them 2.4 points clear at the top at halfway.
Inevitably the response of the Chinese, still unbeaten in
international competition during their young careers, was to post 10s on
their next dive and when both Daley and Waterfield then missed their
entries they had suddenly slipped to fourth.
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Too much: The pair made it too hard for themselves on the last dive
It drew an audible groan inside the Aquatics Centre and while they
produced a solid if unspectacular forward four-and-a-half somersaults –
their hardest dive – next they had left themselves with too much work to
do.
‘It’s the worst place to finish at the Olympics. I would have rather
finished last, because then at least you know you’ve missed every dive,’
Waterfield said.
‘On the fourth dive I had a great start, I was spinning really well
and I just kicked my feet a little bit too high, which means I was
over-rotated. And once you’ve kicked and over-rotated, you can’t then
stop it.’
Daley admitted they could not afford to make the error in such a fiercely-competitive field.
‘Our first two dives were the best of the competition and then the
third dive was one of our best as well, so after three dives we were on
the highest score we’ve ever got,’ he said.
‘But then on the fourth dive we missed and in this level of competition and in this field you can’t afford to miss any dives.
‘We did pretty well to stay in fourth and the home crowd did really
lift us after that dive that we missed – but at the end of the day if we
got nine points more on our reverse three-and-a-half, which normally we
would be able to do, then we would have been on that podium.’
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The result means that Daley will have to wait to fulfil his dream of
capturing an Olympic medal – the last major honour to elude him during
his already decorated young career.
The Plymouth diver is set to, under instruction from performance
director Alexei Evangulov, escape the pressures of the Olympic Village
tonight to embark on a six-day training programme at a base in Southend.
Daley will then return for his anticipated individual platform
showdown with world champion Qiu Bo on the penultimate day of the
Olympics.
Daley memorably beat Bo to win the world platform title as a
15-year-old in 2009 and, while the Chinese has proved unbeatable since,
Daley has hit career-best form leading up to the Games to provide hope
he can cause an upset.
‘It’s upsetting that I haven’t been able to realise my dream with
Pete of getting an Olympic medal, but we’re going to go back to Southend
in our holding camp and train there, then come back for the individual
event,’ he said.
‘It just wasn’t our day today, which is a shame.’