Daley, Williams earn Team GB silver in 10m diving
Daley, Williams Win Silver At 2024 Olympics
Date: July 29th, 2024 Time: 10:55 in the morning On this date and time, a new blog post was published.
Tom Daley and Noah Williams came in second place in the men's 10-meter synchronized diving event on Monday, adding to Team GB's quest for a gold medal as they move into the third day of competition.
The team from Britain wasn't expected to win gold, as China's Junjie Lian and Hao Yang, who had been dominating the world championships for the last three years, took the top spot in their Olympic debut. Williams compared the British duo to the diving equivalent of Erling Haaland.
Daley has now earned five Olympic medals throughout his career, competing in five separate Games. His most recent achievement was winning the coveted gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics for this particular event.
"It's really meaningful. This time last year I made the decision to return, not knowing if I would even make the synchro team. Accomplishing that in front of my son, who encouraged me to come back, is truly special. Now I have won medals of every color. I have achieved my goal," Daley shared with the BBC post-event.
Daley and Williams did an excellent job on their first dive, earning a score of 53.40 for their inward 1½ somersaults. This put them in a tie with Canada, but they were both surpassed by the Chinese team of Lian and Yang, who received 56.40 points for their nearly perfect forward dive.
Lian and Yang continued to increase their advantage during each dive, while Daley and Williams were locked in a close competition with Canada's Ryan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray for the second-place spot. Both teams scored similarly on the next dive, even though Williams didn't quite sync up with Daley. This resulted in them being tied after completing the two less challenging dives.
The British team pulled ahead of Canada once the optional dives started in Round 3. Both teams did dives with the same level of difficulty, but Daley and Williams received a score that was nearly five points higher.
Canada was not happy with their fourth dive, which was the hardest one they had planned. In contrast, Daley and Williams chose a slightly easier routine and earned an impressive score of 93.96.
Following that, Daley and Williams were in control and they never allowed the silver medal to slip away. The pair achieved impressive scores of 87.72 and 93.2, resulting in a total score of 463.44 and securing their second-place finish.
When questioned if this would be his final Olympics, Daley replied: "I'm not sure. Let's savor today and wait to see what comes next. For now, I'll spend some quality time with my children."
