Exclusive: Tom Daley—Great Britain’s Most Decorated Diver—Confirms His Retirement

“That was incredibly scary. When you don’t have that orientation,” he says, “you know how badly you can hurt yourself. I’ve had stress fractures in my shins. I’ve torn my tricep. I’ve had a fold in my back. I’ve broken my hand. I’ve coughed up blood. I’ve hit my head on the platform twice. When you get lost in the air, these things go through your mind.” (Not only did he pull through, however, but he also eventually debuted a new dive because of it: a forward three-and-a-half somersault with one twist, in which Daley “flicks out”—a move his husband nicknamed “the firework.”)

From today, though, the pressure is gone, his dreams realized in full. Next up is what’s most exciting—Daley’s new leap, so to speak, now that he’s hung up his shammy.

For one, his children are growing up fast. Robbie, who actually convinced Daley to come back for Paris after Tokyo (when the diver first considered walking away), is entering the first grade in Los Angeles—and has himself jumped off 3-meter-high diving boards since the age of four. Daley tries to coach him, but “he very much does not like to be told what to do.”

There are also media, entertainment, and sartorial ventures to consider. In Paris, Daley stayed through the duration of the Games as a pundit for Eurosport. He says he’s interested in something in front of the camera, maybe.

“I’ve also enrolled in a class, a course at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles, to be able to learn how to sew,” he adds. “I knit and I crochet, but sewing will just add a whole different level of knowledge as to how to construct things. I’ve actually designed a couple of pieces of underwear that I’m going to be launching, and then I’m also hoping to launch a swimwear project next year.” Daley says he’d love to scale businesses from these ideas, but is content, for now, with Made With Love.

I ask him if he’ll dive recreationally. He hesitates. “I don’t know,” he says. “It’s hard to dive that way. You need the proper setup and pool. People don’t have that at their homes.” Indeed, everything about this next stage in his life—being “a ‘dover’ instead of a diver,” as he puts it—will require some recalibrating.