Troll twists knife as Tom flops: Hate tweets add to misery after Daley misses medal

By PAUL HARRIS

Step one: Daley and Waterfield are out of sync, Step two: Still out of sync as they tuck their knees

The Script had him walking proudly to the rostrum and holding a medal aloft.
But 18-year-old Tom Daley’s dream of winning Olympic gold in the synchronised diving ended yesterday in despair.
He and diving partner Pete Waterfield fluffed their fourth dive – and watched their scores plunge as quickly as they had into the water.
His mother Debbie, watching the event at the Aquatic Centre in the Olympic Park, threw her head back in disbelief at her son’s final dive. His close companion and team-mate Tonia Couch could barely hide her disappointment.

Step three: Daley kicks his feet too early, Step four: They fail to enter the water vertically

The normally exuberant Daley, leaning against a wall beneath the diving platform, could only put his hand to his brow. ‘Gutted’ was how he described his emotions later, adding: ‘So sorry everyone.’
The bitter disappointment was quickly compounded by tweets from an internet troll who told him: ‘You let your dad down, I hope you know that.
‘You should be ashamed of yourself. You let your country down – just f*** off.’
Daley, who finished fourth, retorted by tweeting: ‘After giving it my all ... you get idiots sending me this

Abuse: This shows the original Tweet which was sent to Tom Daley

Daley’s father Rob was killed by a brain tumour 14 months ago at the age of 40. Last night police confirmed they were investigating the offensive tweets sent to Daley, which included threats to drown him.
The young diver did not lack for – largely female – support yesterday. Synchronised drooling isn’t yet an Olympic event but yesterday’s performance by Team TD would surely have been worthy of gold.

Daley (nearside) and Waterfield stretch out on one of their early dives

From young mothers who should have known better to teeny schoolgirls hoping to capture an iPhone snapshot, hundreds came in search of a little piece of Tom. Some were even there for the diving.
‘I love the smell of chlorine in the morning,’ said loyal follower Emma Santoni. The 26-year-old chemist has a flat only a few miles from the modest Plymouth semi where Daley lives with his mother Debbie and brothers Will, 16, and Ben, 13, and has watched him at the pool where they both swim.

Daley takes an anxious look up at the leaderboard after his first dive in the 10m Platform

Both Daley and Waterfield will have another chance to win a medal in the 10m individual platform event

What exactly was it that she liked about him, I asked. ‘Are you kidding?’ she said. ‘Have you seen him lately?’
And on cue, he appeared. ‘Lay-dees and gentlemen,’ said the loudspeaker announcement. ‘Tom (slight pause)... Daley!’
The crowd erupted. Pensioners waved their flags with great vigour; fathers tried to calm excited teenage daughters.
Daley’s Angels, the groupies who follow him everywhere, came over a bit faint.
And, at this stage, standing in a line-up alongside his synchronised partner Waterfield, our hero still had his kit on.
Even Prince Harry, the other most eligible bachelor in Britain, didn’t rate so many ‘phwoars’ when he went elsewhere on the Olympic trail yesterday.
On the high board, Daley was tanned, discreetly waxed, perfectly groomed and stripped for action. He had said he wanted to ‘do it for Dad’ and, before going into action, he tweeted: ‘After the toughest year of my life, today is the day!’
As it turned out, it wasn’t.
But there’s still another dive, still another day – still another chance at gold at the individual ten metre platform diving event next week.
And, as any true fan could have told you yesterday, there’s still only one Tom Daley.'

An underwater shot of Pete Waterfield (foreground) and Tom Daley after a dive





source: dailymail