Tom Daley wins diving bronze

  • Last Updated: August 11 2012, 23:33 BST

Tom Daley upset the odds to claim bronze in a controversial and dramatic 10-metre platform final which was won by David Boudia of the USA.

Sky Bet

Olympic Specials. Click here to bet.
  • Tom Daley: Wins a bronze medal
  • Tom Daley: Leaps into the pool to celebrate 

  • Related Content

The 18-year-old led by 0.15 points from world champion Qiu Bo and Boudia heading into the final dive.

But while Daley won a single score of 10 for his final back dive, it was lower on difficulty than his rivals to allow Boudia to steal a shock victory.

  • Tom Daley secures a Bronze Medal in the Men's 10m Platform
  • Favourite for the Gold medal, and Daley's biggest rival, Bo Qiu dived impeccably and qualified for the Final with the highest overall score
  • Australia's Matthew Mitcham comes dangerously close to the platform as he performs an inward somersault
  • Nicholas McCrory of the USA impressed on the Platform
  • Canada's Riley McCormack breaks the water
  • Tom prepares to dive from the handstand position, and shows no signs of the nerves that affected him in Friday's preliminaries
  • A solid set of dives sees the young Brit qualify for tonights final with the fourth highest ovverall score
  • Russia's Victor Minibaev makes the long walk to the edge of the Platform
  • Yue Lin is the other Chinese representative in the semi-final and he joins Qiu Bo in the final after qualifying with ease
  • David Boudia of the USA performed well in the semi-final, and gets off to a brilliant start in the final, leading the field after three dives
  • Daley is there or there abouts, and is definitely in with a shout for a medal
  • Lin misjudges his fourth dive, giving both Boudia and Daley a real chance of a medal
  • Tom Daley is in first place after five dives and has put himself in a great position heading into his final dive
  • Tom pulls off an excellent final dive, but will it be enough to hold off the American and the Chinese
  • But there is nothing he can do to stop the magnificent David Boudia who scores 102.60 with his final dive to go into first place
  • Bo Qiu is unable to bfind a response, and is devestated as he finishes with Silver...
  • Daley on the other hand is delighted with his Bronze medal and celebrates accordingly...
  • But it is David Boudia of the USA who takes Gold after a truly breathtaking display
Pictures from Saturday's Diving Action from the Aquatics Centre

The upset left Qiu in tears on the poolside while Boudia and Daley both celebrated by jumping into the pool.

For Daley it meant the capture of the last major honour to have eluded him in his decorated young career so far - but only after he was controversially awarded a re-dive on his opening effort.

  • Ed McKeever made it gold no 26 for Team GB in the 200m kayak sprint
  • Tom Daley eased into the final of the men's 10m platform diving competition
  • Jon Schofield and Liam Heath won a bronze for Team GB in the K2 kayak sprint
  • Samuel Weale was one of two British competitiors in Saturday's modern pentathlon
  • Annie Last finished eighth in the women's mountain biking competition
  • Great Britain's Alastair Wilson shows his disappointment after Australia's Kieran Govers scores in their bronze medal match.

The Plymouth diver was allowed to re-take his leap after complaining that he was distracted by the camera flashes from his 17,500-strong home support inside the Aquatics Centre.

He then improved his total by 16.2 points but it did not prove decisive in the final outcome as his score of 556.95 was 29.15 points clear of Russia's Victor Minibaev.

  • It's Brazil v Mexico in the men's football final...and that means plenty of colour on show
  • The celebrations begin as McKeever wins Britain's 26th gold medal of the Games
  • Ed McKeever savours his gold medal in the 200m kayak sprint
  • Sergey Kirdyapkin of Russia celebrates his victory in the 50km walk.
  • Julie Bresset of France was victorious in the women's mountain bike competition
  • Japan took the volleyball bronze medal with a 3-0 victory over South Korea at Earls Court.
  • Russia's Evgeniya Kanaeva became the first woman to win two Olympic rhythmic gymnastics all-around titles.
  • Uzbekistan's Artur Taymazov celebrates after defeating US rival Tervel Ivaylov Dlagnev in their Men's 120kg Freestyle semi-final match
  • Oribe Peralta of Mexico scores their second goal during the Men's Football Final against Brazil.
We pick out the best shots from day 15 of the London Olympics.

The die was cast for a dramatic final from the very beginning when Daley, who almost suffered a shock exit last night when he scraped through in 15th, was awarded a re-dive on his opening effort.

The teen, who lost his father Rob to cancer last May, was initially awarded 7.5s but his coach Andy Banks immediately walked across the pool deck to lodge a protest.

The Aquatics Centre had lit up with camera flashes which Banks had claimed had distracted his young protege.

After a short chat between Daley and a FINA judge he was allowed to return to the tower, with the crowd again warned against flash photography.

Despite the apparent drama Daley's response was nerveless as he grabbed scores of 8.5 and, crucially, added 16.2 points on his initial leap.

It left him third, rather than being second-last, and when he followed it with nines for his favoured, but easiest, inward three-and-a-half somersault the roof was raised on the stadium.

The noise level grew further when Daley got nines for his armstand but at halfway he was in fourth behind surprise leader Boudia, who scraped through last night's first round in the final qualification place.

With the Chinese wedged in between the pressure started to show on them when Daley grabbed nines for his hardest forward four-and-a-half somersaults.

Boudia nervelessly followed that with a 10 before Lin Yue bombed out of contention and Qiu uncharacteristically mis-timed his entry.

More nines for Daley's penultimate back three-and-a-half somersault, which had David Beckham high-fiving with his children in the stands, then sent him top when Boudia and Qiu were just off.

It was by the merest of margins though - just 0.15 points from the deadlocked Qiu and Boudia as the drama levels intensified.

Daley dived first of the trio and won a single 10, but mainly nines, for his simpler reverse three-and-a-half somersault.

The lower degree of difficulty left the door open for his rivals and Boudia pounced with 9.5 for his back dive.

Raging favourite Qiu was then unable to match that with the same dive to leave the crowd roaring and the American, and Daley, in raptures.

Daley was beaming on the podium as he received his bronze medal with none of the crowd having left.

His success came just 14 months after the death of his father following his long battle against cancer. Daley was at his father's bedside when he passed away aged 40.

Robert Daley had been a constant at poolside during his son's career and had pledged to see him compete in London.

Daley told the BBC: "I really wish my dad was here to see that. "It's one of those things I have wanted so long, to compete in front of a home crowd and I wanted it to go the way I wanted it to.

"I went out there and gave it my best shot. I did absolutely everything and with a shaky start having to do a re-dive because of the flash photography.

"That's one downside of the home crowd thing but honestly I'm just so happy. I just can't wait to go and see my family and just have a massive bundle. It's going to be great."

Daley said that he was nervous before his final dive.

"I just went in with the mentality do or die as they say, just go in there, give it my best, put everything into it.

"I didn't have the degree of difficulty in the last round to match these guys so I knew I had to do a good dive.

"To come away with nines, I knew I had a medal and that was solid. For me that was the main aim here, to get a medal."

Daley said he was thrilled to see his coach, Alexei Evangulov, happy.

He added: "At the beginning of the year he was telling me I was fat. I have lost 7.5 kilos. I have done so many changes and everything now has made it worth it. Now I can't wait to go and eat what I like."