British diver Tom Daley, arguably the most-famous diver in history, has expanded his family by one, welcoming Phoenix Rose Black-Daley to his family with husband Dustin Lance Black.
Phoenix was born on March 28, 2023, and is Daley and Black’s second child after Robbie, who was born through surrogacy in June 2018.
Daley won a historic Olympic gold medal in the 10 meter synchronized platform event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which only grew his sporting, and cultural, legend. He has four total medals, including London and Tokyo individual bronze medals on platform and a 2016 Rio synchro bronze. He is also a three-time World Champion, including individually on 10-meter platform in 2009 and 2017.
He was Britain’s youngest competitor at the 2008 Olympic Games at just 14-years old. That 2009 World Championship, won at only 15-years old, kicked off his rise to stardom, with an Olympic medal at the home London Olympics in 2012 cementing his icon status. He was one of the faces of the home Games for Great Britain, including an 80-foot tall banner with his image on it at the John Lewis department store in Cardiff.
He is the first British diver ever to win four Olympic medals, and at 28 continues to compete among the best in the world. His gold medal in platform synchro with Matty Lee was the only gold medal that China didn’t win in diving at those Olympics. In fact, they were the only divers to beat any Chinese divers, solo or synchro, at those Games, as the Chinese otherwise maximized their medals with 7 gold and 5 silver.
Daley has built his success on the platform into a lucrative away-from-the-pool status. He has 3.2 million followers on Instagram, which is a similar number to Michael Phelps, and has almost 1.2 million subscribers on his YouTube Channel, even without having posted in 8 months.
He has also made several television appearances, including as a coach on the celebrity diving reality TV show Splash!.
Daley and Black began their relationship in 2013 and were married on May 6, 2017. Black has a successful career in his own right – the American screenwriter wrote the film Milk, winning the 2009 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Dang, that’s a successful couple. Congrats!
And a very big congrats to the happy couple, a comment that Tom would not dispute Greg Louganis being the best Olympic diver at all he has said as much better but there is a difference between best and most known, also Toms record as a double world champion is being unfairly ignored here
17 comments and only one half-hearted congratulation between them.. smh.
Congrats to the happy parents and older brother! I hope everything went smoothly and everyone is healthy and happy!
My comment was not half-hearted, so I will state it more emphatically: MAZEL TOV!!!
Legitimately I only clicked on this post b/c of how many comments it had.
“What’re those nerds fighting about in there???”
Almost thought it was the culture-warriors trying to make inroads here vs just trans athlete stuff.
Most famous diver in history? I guess if you’re a Gen Z or a Millennial and your history started in 2010, then that’s a valid statement. (How old are you Braden?)
Others have mentioned Louganis, Pat McCormick, and Dibiasi. I’ll throw in the immortal Sammy Lee!
Definitely Louganis for me and I’m from the UK.
Gen Z + Millenials make up more than half of the global population. Whether you like it or not, whatever is most popular with them is probably what’s going to be the most popular overall.
That’s a comforting thought. 40 years from now, Michael Phelps will be regarded by the under-35 crowd as “just some dude” who swam back in the earlier part of the century.
Is that how swimmers today see Mark Spitz?
Just because they won’t follow him on whatever will be the big thing on the internet by then, doesn’t mean they won’t see him for the great he was.
It’s what happens… you get older, your records get broken, your star dims a bit.
Thanks for clarifying in the caption that Tom and Dustin are the adults and not the children 😄
‘Arguably the most-famous diver in history’ is Greg Louganis.
I can see why you’d think that if you are of an age where your formative years occurred during the peak of Greg Louganis’ fame, especially as an American. This is fairly common in sports.
But Daley’s numbers don’t lie.
Nah, Louganis had 2 golds and a silver on tower and 2 gold on springboard, whereas Daley had 2 bronze on tower and a gold and a bronze on tower synchro, which didn’t exist in Louganis’ time. Louganis was also in his prime when Olympics were boycotted by the US in 1980.
Daley’s record is more similar to David Boudia, but Boudia won an individual gold instead of synchro gold.
Congrats on the baby, though.
Fame isn’t measured by counting medals.
Margaret Court won more Grand Slams than Serena Williams in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. I guess that means Margaret Court is more famous than Serena?
Difference between most successful and most famous. Pretty sure Braden was talking about Daley’s followers when he said “Daley’s numbers don’t lie” not about his record in diving.
No David Boudias record is not similar, Tom was world champion at 15 and again at 23 that does mean something / no he didn’t get individual gold but he was absolutely a better diver than David Boudia overall / won a lot more major competitions
Daley doesn’t have a made for TV biopic starring none other than AC Slater. So Check and Mate.
I wish I didn’t love this comment so much.
Daley would be lucky to make the Top 3 over history – it is exaggerated hyperbole. Louganis, McCormick, Dibiasi, not to mention the range of huge star divers from China.
Global fame is not measured by TikTok or Instagram followers.
Most famous and Most Successful I believe is the key point that is being made. And as us old people begin to die off, newer divers are more famous. I’m not sure how many younger generation of swimmers know of Johnny Weissmuller or Buster Crabbe or even Matt Biondi. It’s just the facts. Greg is undoubtable the greatest diver in at least male history. But this topic was about fame.
Q: Greg is undoubtable the greatest diver in at least male history…
by what metric, he has never won a individual Olympic Gold?…..
He’s won four Olympic golds and a silver. It appears maybe you don’t know who Greg is…
I’m in my 30s and this is the first time I’ve ever heard that name. Every single person I know knows who Tom Daley is.
If you asked every single person in the world to name a diver off the top of their head, I am 100% certain that Tom Daley would get significantly more mentions than Louganis.
Perhaps Louganis has more achievements, but if you’re talking about current popularity then there’s no question.
The most famous diver in history is Tom Daley. There’s a difference between most famous and most successful.
Google most famous Olympic diver.
Greg Louganis enters the chat. Congratulations to the expanding Black-Daley family.