Tom Daley has revealed he found many positives during lockdown as he was able to enjoy more downtime and see his son Robbie, three, develop.
The Olympic Bronze medal winning diver, who is headed to the Tokyo Olympic Games, shares his son with husband Dustin Lance Black, 47.
Speaking on The Olympic Mile Podcast ahead of the competition, Tom, 27, said: 'Lockdown was the longest I’ve ever been at my home, ever. I don’t think I’ve ever spent that long in this country.
Family: Tom Daley has revealed he found many positives during lockdown as he was able to enjoy more downtime and see his son Robbie, three, develop (pictured together with husband Dustin Lance Black)
'So although I would have loved for the Olympics to go ahead last year and wish there was no pandemic in the first place, there were so many positives that came from it for me; to be able to spend much more time with my family, I got to see Robbie grow and develop.
'Usually in an Olympic year you’re travelling to training camps, competitions and you’re barely home so I got to see so much of him growing up, I just felt very lucky to have that.
'I had all this spare time to work on myself, my body and it’s been a really good shift in perspective in reminding you of what actually matters most.'
One such activity which kept the Olympic divers mind active was knitting, and he admitted he plans to even take some needles and yarn away with him to the games.
Relaxing: Tom spoke with Aimee Fuller on The Olympic Mile Podcast ahead of the Tokyo games
He revealed: 'When we went to Japan for the test event I actually took my knitting with me and was doing it during my competition because sometimes there’s 45 minutes in between each dive so I’d sit there and knit and just take my mind off the competition completely. I’m obsessed!'
The father-of-one one joked that his one worry going into the Olympics is he will run out of yarn while he is there.
He added: 'I’m thinking of taking a little project out there where I’m going to try and create some kind of Olympic themed jumper so I can look back in 20 years and be like ‘I made that at the Olympics’ how cool is that?'
During the podcast, Tom also revealed he no longer puts as much pressure on himself ahead of competitions knowing he is a father and husband, not just an athlete.
