British high diver Tom Daley won gold last week. In his free time he knits “with love”.
What do the Olympic athletes do in their free time? Watching other competitions, reading, strolling in the athletes' village? The British Olympic Champion in synchronized jumping, Tom Daley, combines several of these disciplines with one another in Tokyo. At the final of the women from the 3-meter board, the 27-year-old sat in the stands, looked down at the springboard, held two needles in his hands and … knitted.
And a few clicks on the Internet reveal: The young man can knit almost as well as diving. He has two accounts on Instagram. One from the athlete Tom Daley, where he shows photos of his hardened body or videos from training, and another who demonstrates his skills on the needle.
Under “Made with love by Tom Daley” he shows what he has already knitted. For example a vest for a dog or a protective cover for its latest gold medal.
A star is Daley, who comes from the southern English port city of Plymouth, not only since he won gold in synchronized jumping with partner Matty Lee last week. He has 2.6 million followers on the athlete account, and over 500,000 people regularly admire him online while knitting.
In his private life, Daley has been heavily involved in cancer research since his father died of a brain tumor in 2011. At the age of 19, he announced in a YouTube video in 2013 that he had fallen in love with a man. He lives in London with his husband, 47-year-old filmmaker Dustin Lance Black, and their three-year-old son.
The Tokyo Games are his fourth. He was there for the first time in Beijing in 2008 – at the age of only 13 years. This makes him the youngest ever Olympic participant to this day. He already has his eye on his second gold: on Friday he will start again from the 10-meter board in the individual competition in Tokyo and is one of the favorites.
