Tom Daley

Sport: Diving

Nation: Great Britain

DOB: May 21, 1994

Hometown: Plymouth

Career Highlights: One of the most talked-about competitors in the Great Britain Olympic team, diver Tom Daley is one of the favourites for gold in the 10 metre platform and 10 metre synchronised events. Given special dispensation to enter youth competitions at the age of 12 in 2007, Daley began competing on the senior circuit that same year and became the youngest ever British 10 metre champion in 2008 before going on to claim gold in the European Championships in Eindhoven. He became the second youngest British Olympian of all time when he qualified for the Beijing Olympics, and finished eighth in the synchro event and seventh in the individual final. 2009 proved a landmark year for Daley as he won the World Championship gold in Rome, finishing ahead of Chinese favourites Qiu Bo and Zhou Luxin. A ninth-place finish was all he could manage with diving partner Max Brick in the 10 metre synchro, but the pair developed well and claimed the Commonwealth gold at the 2011 Delhi Games just a day before Daley won the individual title. British Swimming partnered him with Athens silver medallist Peter Waterfield in 2011, but illness limited the pair’s performance at the 2011 World Championships and they finished a distant sixth, while Daley lost his world title to China’s Bo. Voted the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year on three occasions (the only person to have ever done so) Daley is one of the faces of London 2012, but will face stiff competition for a medal from the Chinese.

Olympic History: 2008