Getty/Oli Scarff
- Great Britain diver Tom Daley has ended a 13-year wait for an Olympic gold medal.
- The 27-year-old and Matty Lee won the men's synchronized 10m platform event on Monday.
- So emotional was Daley's win that a British TV reporter cried live on air.
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Great Britain diver Tom Daley ended a 13-year wait for an Olympic gold medal on Monday with a sublime display alongside Matty Lee in the men's synchronized 10m platform event.
So emotional was the victory, neither Daley or a TV reporter could hold back their tears.
Daley made his Olympic debut as a 14-year-old at Beijing 2008, where he fell just shy of a medal in both the synchronized and individual 10m platform competitions.
He then won bronze medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016, before finally winning gold in Tokyo.
"To finally have this gold medal – I've been diving for 20 years, it's my fourth Olympic Games," Daley said after his victory, which saw him become the first British diver ever to win three Olympic medals.
"Lots of people would have counted me out, being the older person, but I'm in the best shape physically."
The 27-year-old wept as he collected his medal, while in a post-dive interview with the BBC, reporter Nick Hope was also reduced to tears.
Hope tweeted to say that his director had heard an "odd muffled sound" during the interview, which he confessed was him because he was unable to stop "sobbing."
-Nick Hope - the dyslexic journalist🎙️👨💻🏊🏻♂️ (@NickHopeTV) July 26, 2021
Daley's gold at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre did not come easily.
By the halfway stage of the event, China's Yuan Cao and Aisen Chen had soared into a comfortable lead, leaving Daley and Lee well behind in second.
However, the Chinese pair slipped up in the fourth of their six efforts, opening the door for the British pair to gain the lead.
A score of 93.96 for a back three-and-a-half somersaults moved them to top spot, before a mark of 89.76 for a reverse three-and-a-half somersaults kept them ahead. Their final dive - a forward four-and-a-half somersault - was judged at a brilliant 101.01 to see them finish with a total of 471.81.
In a nail-biting finale, Daley and Lee watched on as China's Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen conducted their final dive. When their tally of 470.58 appeared on the giant screen, Daley and Lee broke into wild celebrations.
-BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 26, 2021
"I still can't honestly believe what is happening," Daley told BBC Sport. "That moment, being about to be announced as Olympic champions, I was gone. I was blubbering."