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Search forBack from Beijing: Tom and Tonia talk Olympic stardom
Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 10:30
Today the pair spoke to The Herald about their experiences in Beijing and their hopes for the future.
Diving is a minority sport in Britain, but in China it's huge, and Tom and Tonia found themselves instant celebrities.
Tonia said: "Chinese facilities are the best in the world. The crowd was cheering and after we competed we felt like footballers, being constantly asked for photographs. Diving out there is unreal."
Tom said: "When we got on the bus, people were knocking on the windows and chucking in presents. I don't mind if people come up and ask for a photo – it's nice to know they respect you."
The pair described all the press attention as "surreal", and said now they are back, the Olympic experience is like a dream. But both took lots of photos and kept diaries to preserve the memories forever.
Tonia said: "After going to 2008 now, seeing what the Olympics is really like, it just makes you want to go to 2012 even more."
Tom added: "Now we are hungry to go out there and train even harder."
They were very impressed with the Chinese divers, and soon became friends. Tom said: "The Chinese are rake-thin. They are like robots – they just don't miss dives.
"They are very persistent; they live diving. Training is very strict, they train eight hours a day."
Life in the Olympic Village, with its superb facilities and 24-hour free food hall the size of four football pitches, was never dull and the pair enjoyed mixing with divers from other countries and other Team GB athletes including Andy and Jamie Murray, who joined them for breakfast.
They were also inspired by other athletes' success, especially cyclist Chris Hoy and boxer James DeGale.
And both were delighted to reach the finals of their individual events.
Tonia said: "I was over the moon with my seventh place. I didn't expect to make the finals. My mum cried."
Tom said: "Imagine if you got a gold; I don't know what I'd do.
"Our block was buzzing with the amount of golds Team GB got, people were constantly smiling and happy."
Despite the intense competition, Tonia said divers of all nationalities were rooting for each other to do well. She said: "Diving is a very friendly sport. There's no rivalry and everyone cheers each other on. I could never wish someone not to do well."
Tonia's parents – bus driver Chris and Derriford Hospital care assistant Sally – were in Beijing for a week to support her.
But many of Tom's family, including his parents, brothers, both sets of grandparents, aunt and uncle, were helped with travel and accommodation by one of his sponsors and stayed for the whole 17 days of the games.
All too soon, it was time for Tom and Tonia to leave and face an uncomfortable long-haul flight home in economy class, while the medal-winners stretched out in first class. And now they are back to the realities of home, training and, in Tom's case, school.
Tonia said: We get paid £1,000 a month from UK Sport.
"I still live at home with mum and dad. I pay out a lot but I'm now debt-free, though I'm not making a fortune like footballers!
"Now I know I'm as good as everyone else, it's given me a lot of confidence, and hopefully there are a lot of sponsors out there who want to sponsor me.
"I'd love to be approached by OK magazine. It's my favourite.
"When I look at myself on TV I think I'm fat but mum tells me not to be silly. It doesn't help everyone's got widescreen TVs. I'd love to be a model and do an advert."
Tom said: "I might be doing work experience with the BBC next year, because I want to be a TV presenter when I've finished diving.
"I am probably doing a TV ad for Visa next year as part of the sponsorship. One day, I'd like to be the next National Performance Director for Diving.
"I get paid by UK Sport but have no idea how much – my dad deals with all that. He hasn't checked his emails yet, but his phone hasn't stopped ringing."
Tom, 14, says he is looking forward to returning to school to see friends, adding: "Whenever I'm not diving, I'm just a normal person. All my close friends are very supportive and don't treat me any differently.
"Some people do take the mick but as soon as I qualified for the Olympics, and after Young Sports Personality, everyone said I'd done well."
Tonia added: "I don't see Tom as a famous guy. I'm his mum while we're away – he loses things and I go straight in and find them."
Now Tonia has a brief break of a week, while Tom is already back in training for his next big challenge – the Junior World Championships on September 12 in Germany.
Tom, who starts as a favourite despite the talented Chinese, said: "I'll probably feel more pressure to dive well against someone my own age. Next year we have World Series and then we come home and go to Fort Lauderdale then outdoor training camps, so it's a busy year next year."
Tonia, 19, is looking forward to spending time with her boyfriend Chad before he goes off to join the RAF as an engineer.
Any thoughts of settling down and starting a family have been firmly put on hold.
She said: "He knows sport's pretty much my life. Maybe after two more Olympics."
Tom and Tonia say divers reach their peak in their 20s, though as 30 approaches the stress of hitting the water from 10 metres takes its toll on the body, and it's time to think about lower boards. And after diving?
Tonia said: "I'd like to be a photographer or anything in the media. I'd do a bit of coaching. Life would be lost without diving.
"I'll be bored by the end of this week and dying to come back.
"I love diving. I've been doing it for eight and a half years and I'm still not bored."
Tom, who has been diving since he was eight, revealed in the past he has used a sports psychologist to get his mind right for scary dives.
He said: "Diving is a very psychological sport; it takes a lot to go up there and do the dives.
"When you get scared, you need to think about the process and the psychologist can help with that."
The pair did less well in the synchronised events, partly because they had little chance to practise with their partners.
Tom said: "I definitely think we'll be trying to get new synchro partners leading to 2012, preferably younger, so we can train for four years. It would be better to get someone nearer my age so we can grow up together and become best friends so when we go away to competitions we really enjoy each other's company."
Meanwhile, he and Tonia remain close friends, and are enjoying the accolades in their home city.
And they are delighted their success is inspiring a new generation of young divers. Tonia said: "A lot of people have started diving; they could be ready for 2012 and afterwards. We have a few little fans back home who are aged seven to 10."
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