Tom Daley Knits His Way to Making British Olympics Diving History in Tokyo

Tom Daley captured fans' hearts during the Tokyo Olympics as photos of him knitting poolside and in the stands while watching other events surfaced across social media. 

At first, the four-time Olympian knitted a sleeve for his gold medal, which he earned with his partner Matty Lee in the men’s 10-meter synchronized dive, "to stop it from getting scratched." On one side there's the Union Jack and the other is the Japanese flag. He posted a video of his creation, saying "the one thing that has kept me sane throughout this whole process is my love for knitting and crocheting and all things stitching." 

But he didn't stop there. Earlier this week, the 27-year-old posted a photo of his brand new cardigan. The white sweater includes “Team GB” and the Olympic rings on the back, the U.K. flag and “GBR” on the left and right shoulders, and “Tokyo” written in in Japanese kanji on the front. 

“When I got to Tokyo, I wanted to make something that would remind me of the Olympics to look back on in the future,” Daley shared on Instagram. “I designed a pattern for the colour work that would signify everything about these games.”

Daley said he learned to knit and crochet before the Summer Games, an activity that helped him stay calm. The Guardian has already named him “the world’s biggest crochet influencer." But he told the Associated Press he only knits during preliminaries when there are long stretches between dives. 

“If you stay all the way up here with your energy levels and thinking about the dives,” he said to the AP, “it ends up becoming quite draining by the end of it.”

As his knitting page (@madewithlovebytomdaley) gained momentum, amassing over 1.2 million followers, Daley decided to use his skills to raise awareness. He created a fundraiser for U.K.-based The Brain Tumour Charity in memory of his father. He passed away due to brain cancer in 2011, a year before his son's Olympic debut at London. 

As of 11:00 a.m. ET on Aug. 7, his post raised over $28,000. 

On Saturday, Daley won his fourth Olympic medal, becoming the first British athlete to do so in diving. He posted more photos of him knitting, saying in the caption, "KNITTING MY WAY TO OLYMPIC MEDAL NUMBER 4! I can’t believe it! Thanks for all your support and I am glad to be out there representing Team Great Knittin’ ❤️😜❤️🧶." 

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