Tom Daley fails to qualify in 10-meter diving; Chinese lead

He recovered his equilibrium with dives of 81.40 and 91.80 but by then it was too late.

China is seeking its seventh gold in eight events at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

“I know I can do my dives like that every single time”, Daley said, “so it’s a matter of making sure I go out and give it my all”.

“I had no idea where I was (in the standings)”, Johnson said. Needing a score of 101.00 to make the last 12, he recorded a final effort of 54.40 to sum up a shocking display. He consistently hit his dives and was confident in knowing he came into Rio in the best shape of his life. “I’m the only one who could challenge the Chinese for that gold medal”. His newest and most problematic dive was always likely to be the stumbling block for Daley, and his score of 54 was not good enough, leaving him in trouble down at 17th after two dives. “Right now it’s just kind of heartbreaking to think that it just didn’t happen for me today”.

One of the rare few LGBTI athletes, Daley is set to marry his screenwriter partner, Dustin Lance Black and openly professes that he is gay. “At the Olympics you can get your dreams crushed in an instant so it’s tough”.

“It definitely gives you a massive kick in motivation to want to stand on top of the podium in 2020”.

Jane Figueiredo, Daley’s coach, described the semi-final as “painful” viewing.

“When it came to the last dive and I needed 9.5s and 10s to qualify, I know I can do that”. It wasn’t for lack of being fired up.

Daley received a flawless 10 for his fifth dive, a forward reverse 3½ somersaults.

“It doesn’t get any lower than this”, said Daley, who claimed bronze in the synchronised event alongside Dan Goodfellow.

He hasn’t given up on his ultimate goal. I’ve worked so hard to get to this point.

“It’s just really tough to think how well it went yesterday and if I’d just done that 24 hours later, managed to do it in the final, it could have been an Olympic gold medal around my neck, but instead it’s the heartbreak”.