UK Edition
Tom Daley pleas for more Commonwealth countries to decriminalise homosexuality after diving gold
Within moments of earning his latest diving gold medal, Tom Daley spoke out powerfully against anti-gay laws in Commonwealth nations, expressing his anger that “in 37 countries, it’s illegal to be who I am”.
After the tension of his 10-metre synchronised final alongside Dan Goodfellow, with the English pair weathering a dismal final dive to beat compatriots Matthew Dixon and Noah Williams by fewer than five points, Daley took a fourth Commonwealth title as his cue to criticise the number of countries within the Games family where homosexuality remains illegal.
Daley, who is married to Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and due to become a father later this year, said: “Coming to Gold Coast and being able to live as an openly gay man is really important. You want to feel comfortable in who you are when you are standing on that diving board, and for 37 Commonwealth countries here participating that is not the case. I hope that we can start to reduce that total soon.”
His words resonated in Australia, which only legalised same-sex marriage five months ago, although Daley acknowledged that he remained anxious of competing at the World Diving Series event in Kazan in six weeks’ time.
With no legal barriers in Russia to discrimination based on sexual orientation, the 23-year-old said: “Going to Russia can be scary – I have to compete in front of lots of people who know I’ve got a husband. You have to face those things and try to encourage change.”
Daley’s victory here was doubly remarkable in light of the hip injury that had forced him to withdraw from the individual 10m event.
“I nearly pulled out of the Games for safety reasons,” he reflected. “That’s why this medal means so much. I’ve been doing every kind of recovery you can imagine – compressions, ice, cherry juice, eating lots of things with turmeric and fatty oils – just to get myself to the start line. In training I hadn’t produced one decent dive. I used some experience to make sure I did it when it counted.”
In a memorable few hours for England at the Gold Coast Aquatics Centre, Jack Laugher completed a hat-trick of golds on the springboard, courtesy of a near-flawless display with partner Chris Mears in the 3m synchronised. Despite grappling with his own fitness worries just prior to the Games, Laugher has been in peerless form in Australia all weeks, as the English pair scored 436.17 to eclipse the Canadian duo of Phillipe Gagne and Francois Imbeau-Dulac.
“This is my job, something I love and do every day,” Laugher said. “I don’t feel I should be responsible for winning every time but I am responsible for trying to make my nation proud.” Together, he and Mears were worthy of their billing as reigning Olympic champions, saving their two party tricks – a forward 2½ triple twist, followed by a forward 4½ somersault – for last.
There was euphoria, too, for Grace Reid, an unheralded 21-year-old from Edinburgh who broke through to take gold in the 1m springboard, Scotland’s first ever female diving triumph on this stage. Although she had not fared better than fifth in her two previous Commonwealth appearances, Reid, who won a world synchro silver with Daley last year, put together an immaculate sequence of five dives to prevail.
“I just loved every second of that,” she said, bursting into tears when it was confirmed that she had secured her country’s first gold in this sport since Sir Peter Heatly, former chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation, in 1958.