Tom Daley joked he wakes up a “lot more sore” now than he used to as he prepares to compete in his fifth Olympic Games.
The four-time Olympic medallist made his Games debut in 2008 at the age of just 14 and has since become a stalwart of the Team GB diving line-up.
After claiming bronze in London and Rio, Daley finally ended his long wait for Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 with victory in the 10-metre synchro event alongside Matty Lee.
The 30-year-old will now defend his crown in Paris with new partner Noah Williams and he admitted his training routines have had to change since his Olympic bow 16 years ago.
“I wake up a lot more sore and I feel like I’m having to have a lot more machinery to help,” Daley said.
“I have things for my knees, my back, I have to wear heated trousers to the pool and then I have to have certain physio things. It takes a lot more. (In) 2008 I’d be like, ‘Right, here we go’, and off I went, I was fine.
“Now it takes a lot more for me to warm up and a lot more specific conditioning, prehab exercises, all of those kind of things, but in terms of the dives themselves, when I’m diving the dives look good.
“I’m not able to do the same volume as I did in Tokyo, but that’s kind of why I just did the synchro event because I knew if I chose just one event I could hone all my energy into that.”
Daley took a break from the sport in the aftermath of Tokyo 2020 but returned to training last year with the aim of competing in Paris and he sealed his place on the team alongside Williams when the pair claimed silver in the 10-metre synchro at the World Aquatics Championships in February.
Following his break from the sport, Daley says winning another medal in front of his family “would be lovely”.
“If you had told me a year and a bit ago that I was going to be able to get back in time for my fifth Olympic Games, I’d have been a bit like, ‘That’s not possible’,” Daley said.
“I wouldn’t have put it past me to get there, but this time round I’ve won an Olympic gold medal. For me, my Olympic gold medal this time is having my kids there to watch, that’s really the thing I’m looking forward to most going into this competition.
“I wanted to set an example, even to my kids, that if you have a dream and set your mind to it you can get there.
“Of course I want to win another medal, that would be lovely. Anyone that would say they don’t want to win and don’t want to win a medal would be lying to you, because that’s not what you go to an Olympic Games for.
“We just have to take it one step at a time and do what we can to the best of our ability.”
As well as claiming bronze and gold medals in Tokyo, Daley also caught attention after being pictured knitting and crocheting while watching team-mates and he revealed work has already begun on his Paris projects.
He added: “Since I got into camp I started my Paris projects, so I’m going to be making something similar to what I made in Tokyo, something commemorative of Paris, which I’m excited about.
“I’ve got it with me in my bag, it’s part of my routine every single day, it’s my mindfulness, my one time of day where I can switch off from everything else.”