Rio Olympics: Resurgent Tom Daley ready to strike diving gold for Team GB in Brazil – and dedicate win to late dad Robert

TOM DALEY vowed he is ready to strike gold — and then dedicate it to the memory of his dad.

The 22-year-old diver was heartbroken when 40-year-old Robert died from brain cancer months before the 2012 Games in London.

Emotional Daley said: “It’s always been a dream to win an Olympic gold medal — and to do it for my dad would be absolutely amazing. I would like to think he’d be proud of me. Is this my time?

“I guess, yes. This has been my most consistent year and I’m ready to go in there, give the Chinese a run for their money and try to take away the gold.

“I feel I’m coming here at my most ready — physically, psychologically, everything.

“It’s going to be tough. There are probably five of us who could win and it’s a matter of who can step up and do it on the day.

“It’s never easy standing up there on that board — but it’s not just me who’ll be there.

“It’s everyone around me. Dad, family, friends, coaches, support staff, everyone who gets you to that point.

“I think they’ve got Team Daley T-shirts, so you won’t miss them!”

Daley spoke like a man who has fallen back in love with his sport since the traumas of 2012, when he took bronze but came away suffering from stress after a camera flash startled him mid-dive.

New coach Jane Figueiredo has got him into kickboxing, ballet, cycling and yoga. And he also uses an app to help him meditate for ten minutes every morning.

Daley said: “After 2012 I had the biggest post-Olympics slump that you can imagine.

“I never wanted to step up on a diving board.

“Being stood on that board in the Olympic final in Rio will be the most important moment of my life. But someone, somewhere is walking their dog in the park who has no idea what is going on.

“Put it in that perspective and you realise you just have to do what you need to do.”