Tom Daley finished his Olympic career on a high, becoming the most highly decorated British diver of all time, but despite stepping away from the board, the 31-year-old has not slowed down at all.
Alongside his major knitting brand, Made With Love, the former Olympian will be fronting a new Channel 4 show, The Game of Wool. He even recently made a cameo on This Morning in his trusty Speedos, what else? Speaking exclusively to HELLO!, Tom has revealed that while he’d love a career in presenting, he plans to use this downtime to figure out his next direction.
He explained: “There are lots of different avenues, but I’m using this year to figure out exactly what avenue that is. It’ll take time to navigate, it might happen, it may not, but it’s been really fun to be able to do a bit of everything.”
He added: “TV presenting is something that I definitely want to do. I recently hosted a TV show called The Game of Wool, a competition show with 10 contestants who are all knitting or crocheting. Funnily enough, when I was younger, eight or nine years old, I did a video local radio weather forecast that I called in on the radio, so now it’s kind of come full circle.”
© Pinpep – Joe PeplerTime with his children
One of the major bonuses for Tom since stepping away from the Olympics is being able to spend more meaningful time with his two sons, Robbie, seven, and Phoenix, two. While the star always made time for his children, training while they were in school, he confessed that he wasn’t always able to be fully present.
“On the weekends before, I wasn’t able to do anything too intense because I had to be ready to train on Monday,” he shared. “I wasn’t able to go out and about and stay really [late]. Going to the water park, for example, with Robbie, it would be a pretty intense day of walking around, whereas now I don’t have to worry about being tired during the week.”
© InstagramOn his summer plans with the duo, he continued: “In LA, the weather has been pretty sunny and I’ve been taking Robbie to the water park quite a lot. We like going out, being outside, being in the pool and being able to make the most of the nice weather.”
And it appears that his eldest is loving having his ‘Papa’ around all the time, with Tom saying: “He loves it! We get to play all kinds of things, we get to build Lego. It’s nice to be able to have that extra time where I don’t have to worry about trying to be a diver and a parent, having to make sure I get the right balance of all the crazy active things.”
© InstagramHowever, the strongest bond might be between Robbie and his younger brother, with Tom revealing that the pair “love” each other and have a very strong relationship. “The first thing that Phoenix says in the morning once I’ve gone and got him, he’s like, ‘Robbie, wake up, Robbie. Wake up, Robbie’,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘No, we let Robbie sleep’. They’re both so sweet together.”
However, he then added: “I feel like they’re going to get up to a lot of mischief together. Honestly, they already both team up against me and Lance [Tom’s husband]. They’re definitely going to be trouble, but at that age, kids always express their personality, and it’s a really fun time.”
© InstagramAt the beach
Tom and Dustin treated Robbie with a day at the beach in the this sweet photo.
© InstagramWelcoming Phoenix
Tom and Dustin surprised their fans when they confirmed the arrival of their second son in 2023. Little Robbie already looked ready to be a big brother.
© InstagramTeaming up
Tom revealed that the pair are already “teaming up” against him and husband!
© InstagramHow fun!
Tom has proven to be a great dad with his children!
Knitting for the stars
We all know that Tom has a love of knitting, with the father-of-two going viral during the 2021 Olympics. And it keeps the former Olympian busy thanks to the star’s extensive celebrity clientele, including Sharon Stone, Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande and makeup influencer Bretman Rock.
© InstagramThe star’s designs have even been featured on TV with Gillian Anderson wearing a jumper he knitted on Netflix’s smash hit, Sex Education. Speaking about working with the TV legend, Tom shared that she was “so sweet”, adding: “It’s really nice to be able to get to know people in that way.”
The jumper even had an inspiring story as it was auctioned off following the series, raising over £12k for Mind and divided between eight groups supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
Knitting with purpose
Purpose defines Tom’s latest campaign, teaming up with Malibu to highlight the issue of alcohol-related drownings. The prolific knitter has created a new pair of heat-sensitive knitted trunks that change colour when temperatures rise above 20 °C, which is when most alcohol-related drownings occur; it’s actually five times more likely when the temperature rises.
Speaking about the campaign, Tom said: “Having grown up around the water, water safety is incredibly important to me. From being a parent and having my kids be safe around water, and then also growing up into being an adult and not forgetting the dangers and not having people underestimate the power of the water.“
© Pinpep – Joe PeplerHe continued: “My knitting has taken me on journeys that I never even knew were possible, honestly. Being able to use knitting to spread a message is really powerful, and I’m really glad that Malibu trusted me with the idea to be able to have these little trunks.
© Pinpep – Joe Pepler“The message is a little bit tongue-in-cheek in terms of the ‘don’t drink and dive’ and the play on words, but it also packs a serious message.”
For more information on responsible drinking around water, Malibu has shared advice on staying safe around water when consuming alcohol here: www.dontdrinkanddive.com.
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