Daley and Goodfellow take 10m Synchro bronze

Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow claimed a bronze medal in the 10m Synchro diving event on day three of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The Team GB pair finished on 444.45 to claim third place. This was just six points ahead of Germany, who fell back into fourth after the sixth round of dives.

Daley commented: “It was an agonising wait that felt like it was an eternity. We were stood there and knew we had done a good dive but were didn’t know if we’d done enough.

“It was just one of those moments where I knew how I would feel if it came up on the scoreboard that we finished fourth and I knew how I would feel if we finished third.” – Tom Daley

“We’ve only been diving together since October so we’re a new partnership and we didn’t actually expect to qualify for the Olympics.”

Brits battle for bronze

The two divers were sitting in third place after the required dives. They looked to be taking the pressure of the Games in their stride.

“Our fourth dive wasn’t amazing but towards the back end of our list we have a really high degree of difficulty. I knew our last two were our two real big ones and we’d have to nail them.” – Dan Goodfellow

In the fourth round, they executed their reverse 3 1/2 Somersaults tucked to the letter. Their synchronisation was nearly perfect. Goodfellow’s entry was off vertical though and the pair scored 81.60, dropping out of medal contention.

It was down to the final dive, and the Team GB divers pulled out a beautiful 3 1/2 Somersaults piked. The dive scored 89.64 to move them just ahead of the German pair who had been sitting in third place.

??? Awesome work @TomDaley1994 & @danngoodfellow. #Bronze#RIo2016#Divingpic.twitter.com/7vQid5Rx4t

— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 8, 2016

A flourishing diving partnership

Daley is no stranger to the Olympic Games, competing at both Bejing 2008 and London 2012. The Plymouth-born diver won a bronze in the 10m individual platform in 2008.

After disappointment in 2012, Daley has been on an upward cycle over the past few years. He won a bronze medal at the Kazan World Championships in 2015 and an individual gold at the European Aquatics Championships in London in May of this year.

This was Dan Goodfellow’s first Olympic Games, and while this might be their first time at the Olympics together, they have a strong history as a partnership. The pair won a 10m Synchro, also at the London 2016 Aquatics Championships this year.