Laugher and Mears win 3m Synchro gold

But the day belonged to Laugher and Mears, Britain’s first-ever Olympic diving champions – and in particular Mears, who nearly died as a teenager back in 2009 after going into a coma with a spleen illness.

Britain enjoyed a golden afternoon in Rio after kayaker Joe Clarke and diving duo Jack Laugher and Chris Mears triumphed on and in the water.

It is the first time Great Britain has ever won an Olympic gold medal in a diving event.

Daley took to social media to declare his team mates #OlympicChampions after the pair won gold in the men’s synchronised three-metres springboard final in Rio.

The British pair, who share a home in Leeds, led at the halfway point of the competition, which took place in typically British conditions. Qin Kai and Cao Yuan had to settle for bronze behind the United States.

Laugher, 21, and Mears, 23, made a composed start and placed second behind China after the opening two mandatory dives with scores of 52.80 and 53.40.

All three pairings faced the same dive – the 4-1/2 forward somersaults – and the U.S. were first up, setting the bar with a session-best score of 98.02.

Their forward 4 1/2 somersault with tuck was well executed.It scored 91.20 to take them to a total of 454.32 and left China needing better than 93.84 to win.

Mears and Laugher were next up and rose to the pressure, delivering one of their best ever scores for the routine to guarantee them at least silver.