Olympic diving champion Tom Daley has announced his return to the pool after a two year absence with his sights set on Paris 2024 – after a request by his son.
The 29-year-old won gold alongside Matty Lee in the men’s synchronised 10m platform at the Tokyo Games, his third Olympics after his debut as a teenager at Beijing 2008.
The three-time world champion has not competed since then, declaring he had “in theory retired”.
But in a new YouTube video he said a recent trip to Colorado Springs in the United States had reignited his competitive spirit with a year to go until the Paris Games.
Daley and his American filmmaker husband Dustin Lance Black travelled to Colorado for the birth of their second son, with Daley saying he had not realised its status as an Olympic city until they arrived.
He then took eldest son Robbie to the museum there and felt inspired to attempt a return.
Daley said: “Robbie said to me, ‘Papa, I want to see you dive in the Olympics’.
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“It has lit a new flame in me to see where this goes, I don’t know where this is going to go.
“I don’t know if this is going to be a completely silly idea of me getting back in the pool or an opportunity for me to do this recreationally and have a bit of fun without any pressure, or if my body is going to be able to get back on a diving board and dive half-decently.
“I don’t know what that’s going to look like.
“Paris 2024 is definitely a goal.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be possible but you never say never.”
The couple, who married in 2017, welcomed their first child Robert Ray in 2018 via surrogate.
He was given the same name as Daley’s father, who passed away in 2011 after suffering from a brain tumour.
