Great Britain's diving duo Tom Daley and Noah Williams won a silver medal during the men's synchronized 10m diving event.
Exceptional! 🤩
Tom Daley and Noah Williams secure a stunning silver in an epic men's synchronised 10m platform final. 👏#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/0birASHkHX
— Team GB (@TeamGB) July 29, 2024
After putting up an impressive score of 463.44 to secure a second-place finish, the British divers were being interviewed by BBC. That is to say, Williams broke down in tears as he reflected on the passing of his former coach Dave Jenkins.
Talking to the reporter, 24-year-old Williams began to speak, "It means a lot to me. From third last to second, my coach passed away after Tokyo."
Notably, Williams was mentored by Jenkins starting when he was 16 years old, and has been dealing with the loss of someone who he called his role model, as the 31-year-old coach passed away on October 9, 2021 from sudden adult death syndrome.
"I don't want to talk too much cause I'll cry."
Daley stood beside Williams, and began to console him. Then when Williams was asked about the forearm tattoo he had in memory of Jenkins, he stated, "He'd be pretty proud."
"I've never seen Noah cry in my whole life," the five-time Olympic medal winner Daley, 30, admitted.
"I know how much this has meant to him and Dave [Jenkins] has been such a key part in Noah's diving success and career and it's very sad he's not here to be able to see this... But I know both Dave and my dad would be very proud to see us going in and doing a really really solid performance for a silver medal."
In view of Jenkins' passing, he was found unconscious in a swimming pool in Antalya, Turkey after spending the day training Great Britain's diving squad following the Tokyo Olympics. The coach's legacy will continue to live on as the impact he made on the athletes' lives has contributed to the duo winning a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, which is why they honored him with their victory.
To note, when looking at the other competitors in the 10m synchronized diving event, China's Junjie Lian and Hao Yang (winners of the 2022, 2023, 2024 world championships) took home the gold medal in their Olympic debut with a score of 490.35.
Then Canada got their first Olympic medal in the event when Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray ended up with a score of 422.13 to finish in third.
Related: British Diver Tom Daley Shows Off 'Cardboard Beds' In Olympic Village
