Tokyo 2020: Golden Monday for Team GB as Tom Daley and Adam Peaty star

Daley finally gets his gold alongside Lee

New Olympic diving champion Tom Daley hopes his brilliant victory acts as an inspiration for the LGBT community.

The 27-year-old won the synchronised 10m platform with Matty Lee in Tokyo on Monday.

They beat China by just 1.23 points after a flawless performance left the Team GB pair with a top score of 471.81.

Daley came out in 2013 and is married to American screenwriter Dustin Lance Black with the pair having a son, Robbie, and he wants his gold in Japan to be an example to others.

“I hope that any young LGBT person out there can see that no matter how alone you feel right now, you are not alone. You can achieve anything,” said Daley, who added to his two Olympic bronze medals from 2012 and 2016.

Daley also revealed he could not walk just weeks ago after undergoing knee surgery in June and admitted he was struggling to even make it to Japan.

He said: “I had a pretty bad knee injury. Basically, I haven’t said this yet, but in June I tore my meniscus and underwent knee surgery.

“There was a chance that I wasn’t actually going to be able to be here in the first place. I tore my meniscus and had to get it removed at the beginning of June.”

Daley made his Olympic debut as a 14-year-old in Beijing before finishing third in the 10m platform in London and synchronised 10m platform in Rio.

Daley and Lee were not expected to win, with China the favourites, but they never dropped out of the top two, winning following an exceptional forward four-and-a-half somersaults pike when the pressure was on in the final round.

China’s poor fourth-round dive let the Team GB pair take the lead and they never looked back, with the ROC claiming bronze.

“It’s kind of unbelievable. I dreamt, as has Matty, since I started diving 20 years ago for this moment,” said Daley.

“I thought I was going to win an Olympic gold in Rio and that turned out the complete opposite by a long shot.

“My husband said to me my story wasn’t finished and my son needed to be there to watch me win an Olympic gold medal.

“I can say my son watched me become an Olympic champion, albeit on TV as they couldn’t be here. It’s such a great feeling.”

Lee added: “It felt crazy, obviously. In October 2018 I moved my whole life to London from Leeds. I was away from my family and friends, everyone. I had nothing in London. Our aim was to win an Olympic medal.

“To be able to put the well-deserved gold medal around his (Daley’s) neck was really special to me and I’m very very proud of him. Obviously it’s my dream to be a gold medallist, an Olympic gold medallist, and it’s great to be able to have won that with him.”

No problems for Peaty

Adam Peaty became the first British swimmer to successfully defend an Olympic title after roaring to victory in the men’s 100 metres breaststroke final in 57.37 seconds, the fifth fastest time in the history of the event, with runner-up Arno Kamminga a distant 0.63secs adrift.

His coronation has seemed inevitable for a while as not only is he unbeaten in major competitions over the distance in seven years, his personal best of 56.88s is almost a second quicker in the event than anyone else in history.

Pidcock adds gold to growing collection

Tom Pidcock underlined his status as the most exciting young cyclist in Britain as he stormed to victory in the men’s Olympic mountain bike race in Izu.

Having already collected junior or under-23 world titles in cyclo-cross, mountain biking and on the road, the 21-year-old Yorkshireman took things to another level with an Olympic crown on Monday as he rode clear of the field, having time to grab a Union flag and hold it aloft as he crossed the line.

Even with the celebrations, his margin of victory was 20 seconds over world number one Mathias Flueckiger – the only man who had looked capable of staying in touching distance once Pidcock had made his move midway through the 28.25km race.

The watching crowd – not subject to the same restrictions as those in Tokyo – were denied the hotly anticipated battle with Mathieu van der Poel, who crashed heavily in front of Pidcock early in the race before withdrawing on the fifth lap, but they were still treated to a phenomenal performance.

Williams settles for silver

Lauren Williams came agonisingly close to claiming Olympic taekwondo gold for Great Britain at the Makuhari Hall in Tokyo before a late burst by her opponent Matea Jelic sealed the title for Croatia.

The Blackwood 22-year-old had risen from the ashes of an injury-ravaged year to blaze into the women’s -67kg final and fleetingly looked to have the biggest prize in her sport at her mercy.

But watched by Jade Jones, whose win at the 2012 Olympics inspired Williams to give up a successful junior career in kick-boxing and emulate her hero, Williams lost a three-point advantage with 10 seconds remaining to lose 25-22.