Diver Matty Lee: ‘My mind just went blank. It was like a state of flow’

Lee is now back home after becoming a household name overnight thanks to his Tokyo Olympics diving gold with Tom Daley

“Breathe. Just keep breathing.” It’s the last dive of the Olympic final, and Matty Lee’s mind is racing. He’s thinking: “Oh my god, you could get an Olympic gold medal.” And he’s thinking: “If you mess this up, you might not get anything.” He feels the adrenalin coursing in him, his focus beginning to wander. But he’s also planned for this. He knows what to do.

Lee and Tom Daley are in the gold-medal position, with a minuscule margin of 1.74 points over Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen of China. Daley knows this. Lee does not. During competitions Daley keeps a close eye on the scoreboard, calculates the gaps in his head, knows what is required at all times. Lee, on the other hand, “doesn’t like to mess with that sort of stuff. I can’t handle it”.

Related: Team GB swimmer Alice Dearing : ‘At certain times, I have really struggled’

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