Openly gay Olympic diver Tom Daley is in Rio these days, looking to win another medal for Team GB. Shortly before he left for the Olympic village, he sat down for lunch with GQ Magazine – and had some things to say about coming out, embarrassing doping tests – and sex with Olympic athletes.
“When it comes to diving, no matter how much you train, it comes down to one shot every 4 years”, Tom tells GQ’s Jonathan Heaf as they sit down for lunch at a gourmet Chinese restaurant.
As Tom revealed last month, the tension almost got him to quit. “If I hadn’t have met Lance, my fiance, I don’t think I’d be diving. Knowing someone that was so good in their field, happy with what they’re doing… I had to get that back.”
And the tension is not just about the competition itself – there’s also the constant doping tests. “They follow you to the loo (toilet), you pull your trousers down to your knees, your t-shirt up to your chest, you spin around 360 and they have to watch it come out.”
Tom also talks about his coming out, three years ago:
People told me not to come out, that it would end my career and sponsorships – who would want to sponsor a gay athlete? The big fear that I had was the public perception – would people all of a sudden hate me? And actually it was fine.
And finally, in the printed edition of the British GQ, Tom also talks about sex at the Olympic village:
“You’ve got hundreds of athletes crammed into student accommodation. They are in peak physical condition and have been locked away training for a months – talk about a need for release. Let’s just say the sex is… Olympic”
Watch Tom’s conversation over lunch right here:
