Tom Daley, Matty Lee Pull Off Gold Medal Performance In Men’s 10m Platform

Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics – Diving

• July 25-August 7, 2021
• Olympic Aquatics Center, Tokyo, Japan
• Official Results
• Men’s 10-meter platform synchro final – detailed report

Great Britain collected their first diving medals of the Tokyo 2020 Games as Tom Daley and Matty Lee pulled off a gold medal finish in the men’s synchronized 10-meter.

Daley and Lee scored 471.81 on the dive for gold which marked Daley’s 3rd career Olympic medal and first-ever Olympic gold. Daley is one of the most decorated divers in the world with 6 World Championships medals, 8 European Championships medals, and 5 Commonwealth Games medals.

Daley has so far collected one medal at 3 of the 4 Olympics that he’s competed in including individual 10-meter platform bronze in the 2012 and 10-synchronized bronze in 2016.

This win marks Matty Lee‘s first Olympic medal, adding to his 2017 World Championships silver and 2019 World Championships bronze.

The pair used a huge first dive, scoring over 100 points, to hold off China for the win, earning a few 10s. Video of that dive is below. The Chinese pair actually scored slightly higher on the final dive, but the British pair hung on to by just over 1 point.

Final Dive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=selIejz4hJ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stY7_xwG_Ic

Men’s 10-Meter Synchro Full Results:

1. Great Britain – Tom Daley / Matty Lee – 471.81
2. China – Cao Yuan / Chen Aisen – 470.58
3. ROC – Aleksandr Bondar / Viktor Minibaev – 439.92
4. Mexico – Jose Balleza Isaias / Kevin Berlin Reyes – 407.31
5. Canada – Vincent Riendeau / Nathan Zsombor – 405.00
6. Ukraine – Oleh Serbin / Oleksii Sereda – 400.44
7. Republic of Korea – Yeongnam Kim / Haram Woo – 396.12
8. Japan – Hiroki Ito / Kazuki Murakami – 377.10

Daley discussed his victory, more than a decade into his diving career;

“What a feeling to finally have this gold medal round my neck after so many years, I’ve been diving now for twenty years and this is my fourth Olympic Games. With the support of Matty coming into this competition and the way we’ve been preparing, we’ve kind of had that unstoppable mentality this year and that’s the first time I’ve ever been able to think like that, that we are the ones to beat, I still honestly can’t believe what’s happening.”

“All day today it’s felt like everything’s fallen into place, we found that sense of flow where we didn’t need to say all that much to each other, we just knew what we had to do to get the job done. Then just now, standing behind the rostrum about to be announced as Olympic Champions, and then to hear the national anthem play, I was gone I couldn’t even sing, I was blubbering.”

Matty Lee shared in Daley’s excitement adding the following:

“To be able to share my first Olympics with Tom, get a gold medal and be part of this moment is special and I can’t believe it.

“Absolutely when I was younger I was a fan of Tom’s, I watched him dive and wanted to be like him basically. There’s a photo of me and Tom that’s quite funny from the first time I met him in 2008 – I’m tiny and obviously Tom’s tiny, but much bigger than me. It’s my first memory of him, and now to have competed and won gold at the Olympics with him is pretty crazy.”

Defending champion in the synchronized 10-meter dive Chen Aisen made his return to the Games along aside Cao Yuan and the duo scored a 470.58 for the silver medal. That meant that there was only a 1.3 point gap between the British men for gold and the Chinese men for silver.

This is Aisen’s 3rd Olympic medal, having won both the 10-meter individual dive and the 10-meter synchro dive along with Lin Yue at the Rio 2016 Games.

Russian Olympic Committee swimmers Aleksandr Bondar and Viktor Minibaev collected the silver medal in the event, improving upon the nation’s 7th place finish in the event at Rio 2016.

The Mexican duo of Jose Balleza Isaias and Kevin Berlin Reyes notched a 4th place finish with 407.31 points, while Canada’s Vincent Riendeau and Nathan Zsombor earned 5th with 405.00.

Despite Great Britain’s victory here, the Chinese still lead the overall diving medal table thanks to their gold medal performance in the women’s synchronized 3m springboard final. The ROC has now tied Germany for 4th overall, while the Canadian sit in 3rd after a silver medal finish in the women’s 3m synchronized 3m springboard.

Diving Medal Table – After 1 Event Final

Diving Schedule

• Sunday, July 25 – Women’s Synchronized 3m Springboard Final (Complete)
• Monday, July 26 – Men’s Synchronized 10m Platform Final (Complete)
• Tuesday, July 27 – Women’s Synchronized 10m Platform Final
• Friday, July 30 – Women’s 3m Springboard Preliminary
• Saturday, July 31 – Women’s 3m Springboard Semifinal
• Saturday, August 1 – Women’s 3m Springboard Final
• Monday, August 2 – Men’s 3m Springboard Preliminary
• Tuesday, August 3 – Men’s 3m Springboard Semifinal & Final
• Wednesday, August 4 – Women’s 10m Platform Preliminary
• Thursday, August 5 – Women’s 10m Platform Semifinal & Final
• Friday, August 6 – Men’s 10m Platform Preliminary
• Saturday, August 7 – Men’s 10m Platform Semifinal & Final