Tom Daley: ‘People don't see how much love we have in our family as same-sex parents'
Best thing about representing your country?
Growing up, reaching the Olympic Games and representing Team GB had been a childhood dream of mine – to wear the kit, to go to the opening ceremonies. But the best part is having all of the hard work you've done with your team pay off in one moment. Being able to have everybody there to support you. It's a surreal moment when you finally get to do it.
Best moment of your career?
One is obviously winning the Olympic Gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games. That will always be the best thing I'll ever have achieved as a diver. But Tokyo was weird [because of the pandemic]. No one was there. You had your teammates, but gradually as the events went on it would empty out because you had to leave as soon as you'd finished, so it was very surreal by the end. Getting to compete in Paris, in front of my family, was probably one of the things I'll cherish most. It felt like a bonus year for me because I honestly thought I'd retire after Tokyo. I took two years off then came back into the sport. My son inspired me, to be honest. I could say: 'This is fun, I can just enjoy it for what it is' – which was quite a liberating experience.
Best personality trait?
I am very hard-working and I like to follow through when it comes to my goals. I'm also good at supporting people around me; I understand how much it means for people to reach a goal. Currently it's all about knitting – that has really become my outlet post-diving, so I've been working on lots of patterns and instructions to help people make things. My office is currently a disaster with all kinds of craziness and yarn and things that I've been creating. My older son, Robbie, builds loads of Lego, so while I'm in here knitting, he sits and builds Lego; it's our little creative space.
Best thing about becoming a dad?
Being able to see everything again for the first time; you appreciate the little things that you'd usually take for granted. When Robbie was very small and we'd go for walks, we'd look up at the trees and he was amazed by them, and you realise that these things you see every day really are amazing, so you gain a new appreciation for them. Plus, it's incredibly special to always be the person they're most excited to see, when your kids come up to you and just want to sit with you, be with you, that's so wonderful.
Best thing about coming out?
I don't think I would have ever found true happiness if I hadn't come out. It felt like I was constantly putting up a mask of how I wanted other people to perceive me, giving people what I thought they wanted, and it was exhausting. So it was liberating to come out and not have to worry about slipping up, hiding who I was or feeling like I was ashamed. Coming out allowed me to be free and without fear of judgement from anyone.
Best thing about knitting?
It's my way of being able to switch off from everything. My coach told me I needed to learn to rest and recover, and my husband suggested I should try knitting or crochet because that's what he'd seen people doing on film sets while they were waiting. I fired up YouTube to learn, gave it a go and became obsessed. I look forward to the time I have to knit – it's just so calming. The two best knits I've done are my Olympic jumpers, which I have hanging in my office. I made one in Tokyo which started it all off, then I made another in Paris – to have these things for the rest of my life from the Olympics, which I made… I think that's pretty cool.
Best celebrity encounter you've ever had?
The person who I think is genuinely the nicest, smartest, kindest, most selfless, most generous and all-round lovely human being is Emma Watson. She's everything you imagine or hope she'd be. We'd spoken online but only met a few years ago at some event and we hit it off. Obviously – on a much greater level than me – she became very famous very young, so we spoke about what that was like for each of us. I will always feel very privileged to know Emma. However, the one I was most starstruck by was Gemma Collins, who I taught to dive on ITV's Splash! She's hilarious. Whenever she's in a room with anyone, she just commands the space, it's quite incredible really.
Worst thing about diving?
Getting wet. I know that comes with the territory but in the mornings, especially in the winter and especially when I was training in outdoor pools in LA, it gets quite cold. It'd be maybe eight degrees and I'd have to get in the pool and do all of my dives outside. The moment when you first get in that cold pool and get wet, that was always the worst bit. Plus the chlorine. I always say I'm wearing my signature cologne: eau de chlorine.
Worst personality trait?
I'm a stickler for a schedule; I like to know what I'm doing, where I'm going. I think it's the athlete in me who likes a plan and likes to be able to do things on time, whereas my husband is very much on the more creative side. He's like: 'Let's just go with the flow, let's see what time we get there.' It drives me mad. I'm one of those people who gets mad at my husband when we're running late for the imaginary schedule I have in my head, which I haven't told him about.
Worst thing that has ever been written about you?
People always have their opinions. I don't think there's ever anything that's been too crazy bad. The things I take to heart most are if anybody writes anything about us as parents – I struggle with that. Some people don't necessarily see how much love we have in our family as same-sex parents and how we really want to do the best we can to be the best parents we can. So when anybody writes anything negative about me or my husband as parents, that hits pretty hard. But also I know the way that it goes with social media – it is what it is. It's just an opinion someone has, so whatever.
Worst thing about competing for Team GB?
A lot of pressure to perform. That's kind of what makes it fun, too, but when I was younger I used to find it difficult to deal with. There's a lot of guilt if you don't achieve what you'd hoped to achieve – you feel like you've really let people down. I suppose there's always perspective; there's always something going on in your life which feels more stressful that puts other things into perspective. I was doing my A-Levels in 2012 while training for the Olympics. Whenever I was doing schoolwork that felt more stressful than diving, and whenever I was diving that felt more stressful than A-Levels. Since becoming a parent, I've been able to realise that my family will love me regardless of how I perform, so the pressure stops mattering so much.
Worst thing about becoming a household name so young?
Whenever I was out of the house I was always 'on'. I never knew who might be watching. Not that I wanted to do anything too crazy, but you're always hyper-vigilant about everything rather than just being able to be present and in the moment with your friends. I struggled with that a lot. I'm grateful for all the cool things I was able to do as a result, but there's always that feeling that there was somebody watching what I was doing at all times. That was tough.
Worst childhood memory?
In terms of my young childhood, I used to get really homesick when I was away competing. One time I was in Australia; I was 10 years old, on the other side of the planet, jet-lagged, not able to sleep, and I remember feeling incredibly homesick. I used to love being at the competition, but as soon as it was night-time there'd be so much time to overthink, I'd downward spiral. My parents would always reassure me that I didn't have to go if I didn't want to but I did want to, so eventually I grew out of it.
Worst thing about wearing Speedos so much?
You're very exposed. Growing up I never really thought about it, because it was just the uniform – and they do work: nothing falls out of place when you're hitting the water at 35mph. But, when I got a bit older, I was told by my performance directors that I had to get in better shape and suddenly I felt quite exposed. Still, it's part and parcel of diving. There aren't many people who wear more clothes to bed than they do to work, so that was fun.
Worst annoyance?
You know what drives me mad? When you go to wash the dishes in the sink, and someone leaves a bunch of bits of food in the plughole which you have to fish out. Usually I'll cook and Lance does the dishes, and his idea of doing the dishes is taking them from the table and putting them in the sink. Personally, I'd think about putting them in the dishwasher. I try to be very mindful about the amount of dishes I use, whereas when he cooks he uses every single cooking utensil in the world and leaves it for me to clean up. Whether you're gay or straight, there's always someone in every relationship who has to deal with that, I think.
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The Herald Scotland
39 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Holly McGill on her early breakthrough and her World Champs debut
The Edinburgh native, who turned 20 just a few weeks ago, made her GB senior debut at last year's European Championships and so she began this season with the explicit aim of retaining her place in the GB team. Given the current strength of British Swimming, this is no mean feat but McGill has proved her mental fortitude is as impressive as her talent, with her performance at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in April - she won silver in the 200m backstroke and bronze in the 100m backstroke - enough to ensure selection for this year's World Aquatics Championships, which begin in Singapore on Friday. While her selection came as little surprise to many observers, McGill admits she was pleasantly surprised with how she handled her first ultra high-pressure British Championships. 'At the start of this season, I was well aware that I could swim very well at the British Champs and still not make it into the team for the Worlds - nothing was guaranteed because the 200m backstroke field is so tough,' she says. 'You never know quite how you're going to react when you're in that high pressure environment. 'Last year felt different for me because making the GB team felt much more of a long shot whereas this time, I knew I could do it so it was just a case of actually performing on the day. Luckily, it worked out." Holly McGill (l) won 200m backstroke silver at this year's British Championships behind her compatriot, Katie Shanahan (r) (Image: Sam Mellish) McGill began swimming purely as a result of her desire to copy everything her elder sister did so, as a 7-year-old, McGill duly followed her sibling to Heart of Midlothian Swimming Club. This was the same year as the London Olympic Games and although McGill had a passing interest in the 2012 Olympics - she can remember watching Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps but not much else - it wasn't until a few years later that she began to ponder taking swimming seriously. 'It wasn't until I was 12 that I started having bigger goals and I remember thinking that I'd love to go to the Olympics - but I had no idea what that meant or what I would need to do to get there,' she says. 'Around that time, Keanna MacInnes, who was also at Hearts, went to the 2018 Commonwealth Games and that did make me think well, if she can do it and she's come from the same kind of background and does the same kind of training as me then why shouldn't I be able to do it too?' As McGill hit her mid-teens, she became a very big fish in the relatively small pond of Heart of Midlothian swim team but a move to Stirling University, which is the home to a sizeable chunk of the GB squad including Olympic gold medallists Duncan Scott and Kathleen Dawson, meant McGill was shunted right down the pecking order. For some, this would be disconcerting but McGill insists being surrounded by swimmers who were better, and had achieved far more than her, was an extremely welcome change. 'In my last year at Hearts, I started realising I was one of the better swimmers but then moving to Stirling really grounded me because the swimmers there have so much experience and have achieved so much so it made me realise I still had quite a way to go to really make it," she says. 'I actually think it was a really good thing for me to go to the bottom of the ladder - seeing the skills these other swimmers had was a good reminder of how many things I still have to work on. 'The likes of Duncan (Scott) and Kat (Dawson) act like normal people and they're really nice so it's not like they're sitting speaking about winning Olympic medals but it is quite eye-opening training alongside people that I've looked up to for so long.' McGill is, she hopes, on the path to emulating her Stirling teammates by becoming an Olympian, with LA 2028 the goal. First, though, McGill is looking towards her second Commonwealth Games appearance at Glasgow 2026 where she will, she hopes, make more of an impact than she did as a teenager on her Commonwealth debut three years ago. 'Ultimately the aim is to get to LA in 2028 but first, there's the Glasgow Commonwealth Games,' she says. 'In 2022, I was only 16 and I had no idea what to expect in Birmingham. I was so wide-eyed to everything and I was just there to experience it all whereas next year's Commie Games, providing I get there, I'll be trying to really compete.' Alongside McGill in the British team for next week's World Championships in Singapore are her fellow Scots, Duncan Scott, who is going for his tenth World championships medal and fifth world title, Katie Shanahan, Keanna MacInnes, Lucy Hope and Evan Jones, who will be making his World Championships debut. The GB team also includes Olympic gold medallists Matt Richards, James Guy, Freya Anderson and Tom Dean.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Holly McGill on her early breakthrough and her World Champs debut
It was three years ago that McGill broke onto the international scene, making her Commonwealth Games debut at Birmingham 2022 at the tender age of 16. It's in the past twelve months, though, that she has begun to really capitalise on her potential. The Edinburgh native, who turned 20 just a few weeks ago, made her GB senior debut at last year's European Championships and so she began this season with the explicit aim of retaining her place in the GB team. Given the current strength of British Swimming, this is no mean feat but McGill has proved her mental fortitude is as impressive as her talent, with her performance at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in April - she won silver in the 200m backstroke and bronze in the 100m backstroke - enough to ensure selection for this year's World Aquatics Championships, which begin in Singapore on Friday. While her selection came as little surprise to many observers, McGill admits she was pleasantly surprised with how she handled her first ultra high-pressure British Championships. 'At the start of this season, I was well aware that I could swim very well at the British Champs and still not make it into the team for the Worlds - nothing was guaranteed because the 200m backstroke field is so tough,' she says. 'You never know quite how you're going to react when you're in that high pressure environment. 'Last year felt different for me because making the GB team felt much more of a long shot whereas this time, I knew I could do it so it was just a case of actually performing on the day. Luckily, it worked out." Holly McGill (l) won 200m backstroke silver at this year's British Championships behind her compatriot, Katie Shanahan (r) (Image: Sam Mellish) McGill began swimming purely as a result of her desire to copy everything her elder sister did so, as a 7-year-old, McGill duly followed her sibling to Heart of Midlothian Swimming Club. This was the same year as the London Olympic Games and although McGill had a passing interest in the 2012 Olympics - she can remember watching Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps but not much else - it wasn't until a few years later that she began to ponder taking swimming seriously. 'It wasn't until I was 12 that I started having bigger goals and I remember thinking that I'd love to go to the Olympics - but I had no idea what that meant or what I would need to do to get there,' she says. 'Around that time, Keanna MacInnes, who was also at Hearts, went to the 2018 Commonwealth Games and that did make me think well, if she can do it and she's come from the same kind of background and does the same kind of training as me then why shouldn't I be able to do it too?' As McGill hit her mid-teens, she became a very big fish in the relatively small pond of Heart of Midlothian swim team but a move to Stirling University, which is the home to a sizeable chunk of the GB squad including Olympic gold medallists Duncan Scott and Kathleen Dawson, meant McGill was shunted right down the pecking order. For some, this would be disconcerting but McGill insists being surrounded by swimmers who were better, and had achieved far more than her, was an extremely welcome change. 'In my last year at Hearts, I started realising I was one of the better swimmers but then moving to Stirling really grounded me because the swimmers there have so much experience and have achieved so much so it made me realise I still had quite a way to go to really make it," she says. 'I actually think it was a really good thing for me to go to the bottom of the ladder - seeing the skills these other swimmers had was a good reminder of how many things I still have to work on. 'The likes of Duncan (Scott) and Kat (Dawson) act like normal people and they're really nice so it's not like they're sitting speaking about winning Olympic medals but it is quite eye-opening training alongside people that I've looked up to for so long.' McGill is, she hopes, on the path to emulating her Stirling teammates by becoming an Olympian, with LA 2028 the goal. First, though, McGill is looking towards her second Commonwealth Games appearance at Glasgow 2026 where she will, she hopes, make more of an impact than she did as a teenager on her Commonwealth debut three years ago. 'Ultimately the aim is to get to LA in 2028 but first, there's the Glasgow Commonwealth Games,' she says. 'In 2022, I was only 16 and I had no idea what to expect in Birmingham. I was so wide-eyed to everything and I was just there to experience it all whereas next year's Commie Games, providing I get there, I'll be trying to really compete.' Alongside McGill in the British team for next week's World Championships in Singapore are her fellow Scots, Duncan Scott, who is going for his tenth World championships medal and fifth world title, Katie Shanahan, Keanna MacInnes, Lucy Hope and Evan Jones, who will be making his World Championships debut. The GB team also includes Olympic gold medallists Matt Richards, James Guy, Freya Anderson and Tom Dean.
The Sun
10 hours ago
- The Sun
I know how it will sting Wayne Rooney that Coleen is now breadwinner – my men were put in their place financially, too
WHEN it comes to relationship experience, I am a self- declared scholar. Variety is the spice of life and I've had all kinds — big and small, serious and fleeting, good, bad, heartbreaking and passionate, and sometimes even indifferent and insignificant. 8 8 8 But the one thing that has remained constant in my adult life — dating back as far as my early 20s — has been the fact that I have always earned more than the men I've been with — I've more or less always been the main breadwinner. And the news this week that the relentlessly loyal Coleen Rooney may soon overtake hubby Wayne in the earnings stakes brought me great joy. She has had massive success over the past few months, thanks mostly to her stint on I'm A Celeb. Her business ventures are booming far past those of Wayne, who was reportedly on £500k a year as Plymouth Argyle manager before he left at the end of last year. Oh my, how the tables have turned. Long gone are the days when Coleen was a mere gymslip of a girl dedicated to her undeniably plain but talented school boyfriend, Wayne, whose star was so sharply in the ascendence that there was no hope in hell that she would be able to keep up with his fame, let alone his finances. And yet she went on to raise four lovely boys and keep a stable and consistent home for her hubby while he was pushing the marriage fidelity boundaries over and over again. Throughout, Coleen stayed loyal and true to herself and steadfastly put up with all his shenanigans over decades. That must really suck She maintained a dignified silence while gradually starting to carve out her own career on the sidelines. Wayne, on the other hand, who was always used to the adoration and adulation of football fans, is now a not overly successful jobbing football manager for minor clubs, while Coleen walked away from her stint in the TV jungle to the sound of success and more lucrative work offers. Ouch. That must really suck for him, despite his popularity as one of the many ex-pros on the TV punditry merry-go-round. He is probably mighty proud of Coleen, but Lord, it must really sting to be known as Mr Coleen Rooney after all this time. I bet even he couldn't have foreseen this turn of events. And Coleen is not the only one. Hailey Bieber — formerly of fairly sparse and sporadic Baldwin fame — is now a billionaire thanks to selling off her cosmetics company and achieving fame in her own right. Meanwhile, her pop star hubby Justin is more often than not seen looking dishevelled and lost leaving the gym or just smoking a bong because he's got nothing much else to do. Then there's Kim K, who we all thought might be in it for the fame and the pay- day when she tied the knot with Kanye, but she is now the one basking in the glory of her own sunshine and bathing in squillions, while her ex has been cancelled and is but a vague memory. And without wishing to exaggerate her success, Duchess Meghan of Sussex is trying to make a killing selling raspberry jam in the hope that Jeff Bezos starts to stock her goods, while Harry, the spare heir, is mostly sitting around twiddling his thumbs wondering what he can moan about next. Traditionally, we have the view of women that some will attach themselves to a wealthy man, regardless of the personal price they may pay. Like Anna Nicole Smith, whose oil tycoon husband J Howard Marshall — 63 years her senior — passed away the year after they married in 1994. She got a lot of flak for that. Sometimes there is no price to pay. The man they fall in love with just happens to be a billionaire. But there are men out there who have no qualms about living off a woman. Enjoying a champagne life- style on lemonade money. 'Love has nothing to do with money' is something only ever said by those without it, but attaching themselves to it. My own personal experience in this field is quite extensive and has instructed me over the years that men — many men — love the idea of a woman who is financially and professionally independent. They love a strong woman, especially one who isn't needy or desperate or weak or helpless. They admire a woman who stands on her own two feet or who runs her own race. A woman who makes her own decisions and is capable of not needing a man and instead chooses to be with one is sexy as hell. Some even claim it's a major turn-on. Well, that's what it says on the tin, anyway. If you dig a little deeper, it tends to be a little more complicated. For men. The reality soon starts to grate, intimidate and emasculate — because money is so closely associated with power, and men often feel it is their human and societal right. Having a woman own that power by herself becomes very jarring. And I can only imagine if, like Coleen, a woman usurps that financial position, it means that the man will feel 'less than'. Maybe less manly, less powerful, less able. Who knows? They love a strong woman, especially one who isn't needy or desperate or weak or helpless. As women, we are expected to accept the reverse. We are supposed to naturally assume the role of being the person who earns less — because that's just the way it's always been. I've been married three times and none of my husbands earned more than me. None of them were considered wealthy in their own right. I have no idea whether the appeal for them was my bank balance or my ability to make a mean moussaka. I know money wasn't a thing for my first hubby, who knew me when I was a 'nobody'. Obviously, my ability to earn good money made for an easier relationship in many respects. We didn't have to suffer economic uncertainty. The world was our oyster. 8 8 This was most likely facilitated by my approach to life — that what I gained was also the collective gain. I worked hard for 'us'. I was in one relationship where the disparity was so stark that the situation became unsustainable because the other person did not work. This meant I felt huge resentment towards him for quite plainly and unashamedly 'living off me'. A great sign of the times now is that it's less rare to see a man together with a wealthier woman, though it's still not that common. Financially inferior For some reason, we always 'admire' a man for having the ability to be in a financially inferior position. We always say it takes a 'big man' to stick that out. Which is an insane idea, because women do it all the time, and we're never applauded for managing to be with a richer man than ourselves. No, we're castigated for it, often with claims that we're lazy. This is probably why many men struggle with it. Not all, but many. They see it as a kind of subordination, that they are lower in rank and status — and perhaps, most of all, in importance. And we all know men like to feel important. To be a 'kept man' is seen as possibly the weakest thing a chap can be. Traditionally, when a man has more money, it's often his greatest way of keeping a woman in the relationship. He knows that because women often fear economic vulnerability, they will tend to stay rather than up and leave. It's a man's silent weapon. Wealth so often weaponises relationships. For a man to surrender that power and be at the financial behest of a woman will forever be viewed as admirable. Of course, we still all have affection for Man United and England legend Wayne — he will always remain in our footballing consciousness. But it might be interesting to see if the shift in balance changes the dynamic of his marriage to Coleen. She always seems to call the shots, so I suspect there will be no change in that regard. Here's hoping he will have the humility to accept his wife's change in financial fortune and that he can keep up with her, because I reckon we will be seeing more and more of this as women alter the narrative, at work and in society. To paraphrase Aretha Franklin, sisters really are doing it for themselves.
