As he prepares for his fourth Olympics, the diver talks about fatherhood, growing up fast and why wrapping himself in the flag feels different now
Tom Daley has the large lumberjack hands and size 11 feet of a very tall man. There must be height lurking somewhere in the diver’s genes, because his younger brothers are 6ft 5in (1.96m) and 6ft 3in, while his uncles are 6ft 5in and 6ft 7in. But Daley measures in at 5ft 10in, one inch shorter than his own grandmother. “Yeah,” he says, turning over the saucer-size palms to reveal knuckles that protrude like acorns, “I think in some ways this sport stunted my growth.”