Despite criticism from the British Diving organization that the photogenic Tom Daley is too busy being distracted by his personal publicity machine, as he placed only seventh in February’s World Cup, the 18-year-old wonder boy remains one of the world’s best divers — and most popular Olympic pinups. He hopes to repeat his success in June’s European Diving Championships, in which he won the 10-m-platform gold, calling it his “dream” to win gold in London. Britain will be glued to Daley’s performance, hoping he can beat his medal-free act at Beijing, where he competed at 14. Judging by the fact that he has his own video website (TomDaley.tv) which includes “Ask Tom” segments (“What crazy color would you dye your hair?”) and a spoof music video in which he and fellow Team GB divers, while wearing Speedos, gyrate to LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It,” he’s going to stay in the public eye even if he doesn’t take home the gold.
50 Olympic Athletes to Watch
From Qatar to South Africa, Russia to the U.S., TIME takes you around the globe to meet the extraordinary men and women you’ll be seeing this summer at the London Games
Tom Daley
Diving, Great Britain
Full List
Athletes to Watch
- Rebecca Adlington
- Tony Azevedo
- Kenenisa Bekele
- Yohan Blake
- Usain Bolt
- Veronica Campbell-Brown
- Mark Cavendish
- Oksana Chusovitina
- Tom Daley
- Phil Dalhausser
- Gabrielle Douglas
- Kevin Durant
- Brady Ellison
- Matthew Emmons
- Jessica Ennis
- Allyson Felix
- Missy Franklin
- Tony Gunawan
- Bahiya Al-Hamad
- Trey Hardee
- Im Dong Hyun
- Larisa Iordache
- Yelena Isinbayeva
- Lolo Jones
- Lin Dan
- Liu Xiang
- Ryan Lochte
- Holley Mangold
- Ous Mellouli
- Carolina Mendoza
- LaShawn Merritt
- Alex Morgan
- Fabiana Murer
- Aliya Mustafina
- Sally Pearson
- Michael Phelps
- Paula Radcliffe
- Kimberly Rhode
- Dayron Robles
- Caster Semenya
- Hope Solo
- Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi
- Katie Taylor
- Allison Schmitt
- Aisuluu Tynybekova
- Kohei Uchimura
- Kerri Walsh
- Rau’shee Warren
- Jordyn Wieber
- Mariel Zagunis