Daley, who came seventh in Beijing, finished with a total score of 556.95 to send the home crowd into raptures and secure third place as USA’s David Boudia took gold.

The Briton booked his place in the final after an impressive semi-final display saw him finish fourth and dispel the doubts caused by his below-par preliminary-round performance.

But 18-year-old Daley started the final is controversial circumstances as he asked for a re-dive after claiming that the flash photography put him off his first dive.

And after his request was granted, the 2011 World Championship gold medallist scored an impressive 91.80 for a dive of 3.6 difficulty to begin the evening in third place and in fine form.

Daley’s next two dives were clean but the heavily-tipped Chinese pair of Qiu Bo and Lin Yue began to find their feet as they pushed the Brit into fourth place with 270.95.

A superb fourth dive saw Daley post the best score of his London 2012 campaign – 98.05 to take him into third place with two dives left – much to the delight of David Beckham and the rest of the Aquatics Centre crowd.

The teenager from Plymouth took 97.20 after another fantastic effort in his penultimate dive to set up a tense end as Daley grabbed the lead with 466.20 going into the final dive ahead of Boudia and the Chinese pair.

Daley earned 90.75 in his final dive to send the home crowd into raptures and after a nervous wait for the final three divers, Daley’s superb third-place finish was confirmed.

© Sportsbeat 2012

The 18-year-old found some form at the Olympic Aquatics Centre after finishing 15th in the preliminary round on Friday, registering a total score of 521.10 which was boosted by a strong final-round dive.

World champion Qui Bo of China topped the standings with an impressive score of 563.55, and Daley’s medal chances were boosted after defending champion Matthew Mitcham missed out on the final after finishing in 13th place.

“That was a lot better than yesterday,” said Daley. “That’s the thing with diving, anything can happen, as you’ve seen with the Olympic champion not qualifying.”

“After knowing the disappointment from the synchro, I really wanted to prove a point. Last night was tough to get through all that competition, but I’m happy and anything can happen tonight.”

“I’m gradually getting sharper and sharper, it’s hard to compete when you know it doesn’t count towards medals but now I have qualified I’m going to give it my best shot tonight.”

“It’s strange what happens in diving and how things work out. The Chinese are very strong at the moment, and in men’s platform diving bronze is almost gold, and anything above that is platinum!”

The Team GB 10m synchronised diving duo placed fifth out of eight at the Aquatics Centre, where they were backed by a vociferous home crowd.

They had led after a fine first round, but mistakes proved costly as they slipped down the leader board and saw China’s Chen Ruolin and Wang Hao eventually claim gold.

But Couch believes they can still be proud of their efforts, having backed up the European Championships gold they won earlier this year by finishing as the top-placed European pair.

“We are gutted we didn’t get a medal,” said 23-year-old Couch. “But we’ve got to remember we are the top Europeans.

“There was definitely a bit of pressure in that we had to beat the European teams, so we can’t regret anything.

“We scored highly and we had an amazing time which is definitely the main thing.”

Barrow, who like Couch was born in Plymouth, added: “We came up with international personal bests and we qualified for the world series next year.

“In the top eight everybody wants to get a medal but we got a bronze medal at the World Cup in February and are the top Europeans so we are happy.”

The duo led after three dives but could not maintain their run as they finished with a total of 454.65, while Chinese favourites Yuan Cao and Yanquan Zhang scored 486.78 to win gold.

The silver medal went to the Mexican pair, who claimed their first medal in any men’s synchronised diving event, while USA won the bronze medal.

Daley, Britain’s youngest ever world champion in any sport, said coming fourth was agonising but he is looking ahead to his individual event which will begin on 10 August.

“The crowds have been amazing – I’m getting emotional thinking about it,” said Daley. “It was all we dreamed of and to come fourth was so agonising after training so hard. We’ve got the individual events to look forward to and hopefully we’ll get back on our game.”

Daley, who became Britain’s youngest Olympian in 48 years at the Beijing Games in 2008, said after missing the fourth dive the pair were left with too much to do, despite huge encouragement from the crowd.

“After three dives we were on the highest score we’ve ever got, but then we missed the fourth dive and in this competition and this field you can’t afford to miss any dives,” he continued.

“We did well to stay in fourth and the home crowd really did lift us after that and gave us the drive and determination to come back and do two solid dives.

“At the end of the day if we had got nine points more we would have been on that podium. It was an amazing experience and I went into the competition giving it my all, I tried my best and it was great to have all my family there supporting me cheering me and I can’t wait to go and see them.

“It’s upsetting that I haven’t been able to realise my Olympic dream with Pete and win an Olympic medal, but we’re going to go back to Southend to our holding camp and train there and be back ready for the individual event.”

Waterfield, also evidently disappointed by their fourth place finish, added: “It’s the worst place to finish at an Olympics, I’d rather finish last because at least then you know you’ve missed every dive.”

Tom Daley declared he is in the form of his career after claiming the national 10m platform diving title in Sheffield.

Daley could not better his personal best score from the recent European Championships in Eindhoven but he finished well ahead of synchro partner Peter Waterfield and third-placed James Denny.

“I’m loving my diving at the moment, it’s the best form of my career,” said Daley, who will now go for gold in two disciplines at the London 2012 Olympics.

“I’ve been trying to get more volume in my dives and get lots of numbers under my belt.

“To finally dive well at nationals for once was good; normally I don’t do so well in those. The only years I’ve dived well are the 2009 Nationals and this year.

“Last year was the first year I did all my new list of dives, so now I know I’m in good shape going into the Games.”

Rebecca Gallentree should have sealed her Games place with a new British record and personal best in the 3m springboard securing her third career title at the British Gas Diving Championships.

“I had a few doubts this morning, but I sorted my head out, had a good rest, came back with a clear head and performed,” said Gallantree, who qualified fifth from the preliminary.

“I don’t think I’d have been any less nervous if I’d done well.”

© Sportsbeat 2012

Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield produced a stunning personal best as they won the national 10m synchro diving title in Sheffield.

And the pair believe there is still plenty of room to improve after posting a total score of 475.77 to also secure their Olympic selection.

“To come out of the World Series as overall champions and then come here and set a new personal best is great,” said Daley.

“Everyone is very excited for the announcement of the Olympic team on Monday, so everyone’s come to the Championships in the best shape they can be.”

European champions Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow won the women’s 10m synchro title – although they were the only pairing entered.

Together they’ve enjoyed a year to remember already, winning bronze at the FINA World Cup before continuing their success last month in Eindhoven.

And despite no opposition, they also bettered their previous personal best score, setting a 327.18 British record in the process.

“With the PB everything is going to plan and we’re working really hard,” said Couch. “I dropped one of my dives, so it wasn’t the best we can do – if I’d got that it could have been 330 or more.”

Defending champions Nick Robinson-Baker and Chris Mears won gold in the men’s 3m wynchro to increase their chances of being selected for Team GB this summer.

“This is exactly where we need to be at this point, with the Olympics coming up,” said Mears.

“We’ve put in a great performance, and done some really nice dives, and that’s really positive looking forward to the Games and the selection on Monday.”

Robinson-Baker added: “I feel in the best possible position I could be in physically and mentally. Since Beijing, we’ve come on a long way.

“We just need to get strong, get fit and mentally set to compete in the next 50 days.”

© Sportsbeat 2012

Tom Daley produced a personal best score to claim gold in his final major competition before the London 2012 Olympics.

Daley, whose next target is the team trials, sat out of the synchro at the European Championships in Eindhoven due to an injury to partner Peter Waterfield and waited until the last day of competition for the individual competition.

And he did not disappoint as he won gold in convincing fashion, leading the competition from start to finish with the best six consecutive dives of his career, scoring 565.05.

He finished 50 points clear of his nearest rival and even saved the best for last, his final dive gaining three perfect tens from the judges.

Chinese world champion Qui Bo and American David Boudia, considered his major rivals for the Olympic podium, will have watched with interest, although Daley would have been disappointed not to beat the assembled field in Holland.

It is the 17-year-old’s second European title. Aged just 13, he won four years ago, again in Eindhoven, which marked him out as one to watch at the Beijing Olympics.

© Sportsbeat 2012

Tom Daley ensured he left lasting impression on his rivals ahead of this summer’s Olympics after scooping gold at the final Fina World Series in Mexico and his second overall title.

Daley competed in the 10m platform fresh from winning the overall 10m synchro title with Peter Waterfield following their bronze on the first day in Tijuana.

And the 17-year-old collected the overall 10m platform crown in perfect fashion, this time winning gold after being awarded a score of 562.85 points in the final.

Much like in the 10m synchro, the overall title is reward for his consistency throughout the four World Series legs this year – Daley travelling to Mexico with three silver medals.

World champion and Daley’s chief rival at this summer’s Olympics Qiu Bo was absent but he still edged American David Boudia and Sascha Klein into second and third respectively.

Daley’s 10m synchro partner Peter Waterfield placed sixth with a score of 526.05 while in the men’s 3m springboard Chris Mears and Nick Robinson-Baker also stood out.

They claimed silver for their first World Series medal as a pair while Britain’s podium rush continued with Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow in the women’s 10m synchro.

Couch and Barrow battled their way to bronze in Mexico to round off a good outing for the British team at the final World Series meeting of 2012.

© Sportsbeat 2012

Tom Daley has been backed to rebound from his recent bad press by his diving mentor Leon Taylor.

British Diving’s performance director Alexei Evangulov caused a stir when he accused his young charge of spending too much time on commercial and media commitments, comparing him to tennis pin-up Anna Kournikova, whose success on the court never matched her profile off it, and adding Chinese rivals worked “three times harder”.

Taylor, who combined with Daley’s current synchro partner Peter Waterfield to win Olympic silver in Athens, has worked with the 17-year old as a mentor since his early teens and the pair have forged a close personal bond.

And he believes the negative headlines will have no impact on one of Team GB’s most popular and high-profile athletes.

“He’s not looking back, he’s looking forwards and that’s a good strategy isn’t it?” said Taylor, who was speaking at the Glasgow launch of Bank of Scotland’s Local Heroes initiative, which provides £1,000 of funding to 82 budding Olympians and Paralympians across Scotland.

“I was with him this weekend and I had a really good chat with him – his eyes are on the prize.

“He’s fine, absolutely fine. He takes whatever life throws at him in his stride and that’s why he’s the exceptional character that he is.

“You can’t control what your national performance director says but what you can control is what you are focusing on and Tom is a very focused individual.”

But Taylor refused to criticise Evangulov’s comments and claimed Daley, who placed a disappointing seventh with Waterfield at the recent Olympic test event, was starting to hit form ahead of forthcoming Diving World Series meetings.

“There is no point in fuelling something, it’s not professional or helpful,” he added.

“My only priority is to support Tom and when I saw him at the weekend he looked really, really sharp.

“He had that thumb injury just prior to the test event, which obviously hampered his preparation. Tom said it’s funny really, it’s a week too late but his dives are rocking’ and rollin’ at the moment.

“This whole media whirlwind will be easily forgotten the next time Tom is out there competing well and that’s what he’s looking forward to.”

© Sportsbeat 2012

British diving coach Alexei Evangulov has delivered a fresh attack on Tom Daley – again claiming he is wasting his chance of Olympic success because of his continued media work.

Former world champion Daley was stunned when Evangulov criticised him for excessive media commitments earlier this month, claiming his rivals in China worked “three times harder”.

After finishing a disappointing seventh at the Olympic test event with synchro partner Peter Waterfield, the 17-year-old, a poster boy for Team GB at their home Games, hit back at critics, insisting he was working harder than ever to deliver on his promise this summer.

But Evangulov responded by comparing Daley with Anna Kournikova – who made millions from tennis because of her looks and profile but never won a single tournament as a singles player or went beyond the semi-finals of a Grand Slam event.

“It reminds me of the situation in Russia with Kournikova,” he said. “She looked pretty and she made a promising start to her career. However, the media exposure she received meant she never got to be the best or deliver on her potential.

“I am angry because nobody will listen to me. If he stopped all his media work now, I might be able to get him up to the third best diver in the world.

“I don’t mind what he does if he gets the medal. He can become a rock star then.”

Evangulov claimed he had been cast as a villain because of his criticism of the popular Daley, whose 200,000 Twitter followers have been quick to rally to his defence.

“A million people have been saying ‘Alexei, you’re a liar’ – but now you can see,” added Evangulov, after watching Daley and Waterfield’s performance at the £250m Olympic aquatic centre.

“The difference between me and the other people who love him is that I am an expert. I know how to win and they don’t.”

Daley’s profile soared when he was the youngest member of the British team in Beijing, one year later he won the world platform title in Rome and he tragically lost his influential father to cancer last year.

He has spoken of wanting to train as a TV presenter and became an internet sensation after shooting a spoof video during which he and members of the British diving team danced and lip-synched to LMFAO’s chart hit Sexy And I Know It.

“I’m doing as much as I can. I’m pushing myself as hard as I can go without my body breaking,” he insisted, after one poor dive cost him and Waterfield a podium place at the Olympic test event.

“Diving is something I love to do, it’s fun and I want to do well. That’s the only reason I’m in the sport.”

© Sportsbeat 2012