Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
2 appearances
British diver, two-time world champion and Olympic medalist, known for his prodigious career beginning at age 10.
On the island
Eight records
The keepsakes
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:43What's it like standing up there staring down at that little sparkling blue square of water?
It is terrifying. And I remember the first time that I went up onto the 10-meter platform, and I was about eight years old. And I felt like I literally had to crawl on my hands and knees to the edge because it feels like when you're that high up, it feels like the diving board narrows and narrows and narrows, almost like you're on a balancing beam that you could fall off at any moment. … But when you stand up there, there's this overwhelming feeling of adrenaline and all of your senses are completely heightened and you become so hyper-vigilant to everything that's going on around you. The light, the noises. It's a really weird, almost out-of-body experience to stand up there. Because if you actually think about what you're doing, no sane-minded human would actually do it. So you have to really be in the moment and focus on process.
Presenter asks
14:47Were you a perfectionist? This exceptional drive and singularity of focus is unusual for a teenage boy.
Yeah, I think I definitely was, I still am, a perfectionist, but I think there is something as well of growing up feeling slightly different and not feeling like the rest of your classmates and not feeling like you fit in and there's something that's so different about you, but you can't quite put your finger on it and there's something that's eating away at you that you want to do everything that you can to impress and be the best that you can be so you don't feel too different and alone. I also had it in the back of my head: what happens if diving goes completely wrong and I break my leg or I break my back and I can't dive anymore? I need to have something to fall back on.
J.K. Rowling
Well, the book that I probably have the most memories and I feel like is the biggest achievement for me was that the first proper book I'd say that I read was Harry Potter. The first Harry Potter. I remember reading it with my grandma and with my mum and with my dad and there was like a real group effort to get me through this book and then from then on I was just like a massive Harry Potter fan.
The luxury
Well, I would like to say I'd like take my whole kitchen, including all cookware, but we can't do that.
Presenter asks
18:39In 2006, aged twelve, at an international competition in Aachen, you froze on the way up to your third dive. What happened?
I had learned lots of new dives, and I had pushed myself to learn some of the hardest dives in the world at an age that was probably six or seven years younger than what I should have been doing. … And I just got to a point where I was just so terrified and so freaked out. And I was going up to the board, and I just like, I can't do it. There's no way that I can actually make myself jump from this board. And I come down, and my coach at the time wasn't there. So it was the high-performance director. And I went to him, I was like, I can't do it. And I was crying. … And they pulled me out of the competition. And I remember like walking over and going up to the stands where my dad was and my mum and just sitting there like crying. And he was like, don't worry, it's okay. There's going to be more competitions. You're absolutely fine. It's all good. But little did I know that, you know, my dad had recently been given his cancer diagnosis just before going over to that competition. And yeah, that was where the beginning of a very tough five years in my life.
Presenter asks
25:59Your dad passed away when he was just forty. How did you cope with it?
I mean, it was a horrible moment in my life. I was in Fort Lauderdale, and I got a phone call from my mum saying, Tom, we're going to have to fly you home. … And then I get home and I see my dad in a hospital bed in the living room. … I walked into the room and I said, Hi, Dad, it's me. I'm home. And for the first time in 24 hours, he opened his eyes, raised his fist into the air, and was happy as anything to see me. … I remember one of the last things he said to me was, Do we have our tickets yet? … the London 2012 tickets, because I want to be right on the front row. … I couldn't say to him, you're not going to be around to be on the front row, Dad. … I was holding his hand as his as he stopped breathing. … it wasn't until he had actually stopped breathing and that he was dead that I finally acknowledge that he wasn't invincible, and life is so fragile. … my world felt like it had come crashing down. … it was a big, big adjustment to not have your biggest cheerleader with you anymore.
Presenter asks
31:02Eighteen months after losing your dad, you won bronze at London 2012. What was going through your mind at that moment?
It was a crazy experience going into London 2012. The pressure, the expectation, the fact that it was a home crowd, thousands of people watching in the audience, millions at home. And I just remember going into that last round of dives, walking to the end of the platform, looking down at the bottom of the pool, seeing the Olympic rings and seeing London 2012 and thinking, this is everything that I have dreamed of, everything I have worked towards from when I was a boy age nine, had drawn a picture of me doing a handstand with London 2012 Olympic rings before it was even announced as the host nation. And I just knew that this is what I had dreamt of my whole life. And I remember hitting the water after that dive. And I felt like I could have been like a dolphin that had come out of the pool and like done a flip. … And when it was confirmed that I had won a medal and my teammates all picked me up and we all were in the pool and my performance director jumped in with his phone and it was a, yeah, it was a great night.
Presenter asks
38:12At the Australia Games you appealed to Commonwealth countries to decriminalize homosexuality. What made you decide to do that?
I just felt so lucky to have just won the Commonwealth Games with my synchro partner Dan. And I was sat having lunch with my husband, my mum, and my grandparents. … there was no worry, no fear about going back to the UK and getting thrown in prison or getting, you know, some countries with death sentences. … I just felt so lucky and I was like, I can't believe the amount of countries that still criminalize LGBT people for being who they are. Lots of people that aren't LGB or T or Q don't understand what it's like to be born this way. … it's not a lifestyle choice because if you were to choose, you would choose the easy route of not being different. … I love who I love and there's lots of people around the world that love who they love. And, you know, at the end of the day, love is love. And being able to share personal stories is a way to be able to change people's hearts. And I think if you can change people's hearts about an issue, that's how you can start changing people's minds and the way that they think about it.
“It is terrifying. … no sane-minded human would actually do it. So you have to really be in the moment and focus on process.”
“People used to throw things at me, call me name. I mean, I had scissors thrown at me, I had rolls of tape, and in the field at lunchtime, these guys would come like rugby tackle me to the floor and think it was like funny. … I just didn't feel safe anymore. And I felt scared and worried about going to school.”
“I was holding his hand as his as he stopped breathing. … it wasn't until he had actually stopped breathing and that he was dead that I finally acknowledge that he wasn't invincible, and life is so fragile.”
“Love is love. And being able to share personal stories is a way to be able to change people's hearts. And I think if you can change people's hearts about an issue, that's how you can start changing people's minds and the way that they think about it.”
“My Olympic gold medal is Robbie.”