Tom Daley to leave Team GB's Olympic village to 'rest head and body'

Tom Daley revealed last night that he will leave the athletes’ village “to give his head and body a rest” and focus his Olympic attentions on beating his Chinese rivals in the 10 metre individual platform next week.

Daley, 22, and Daniel Goodfellow, 19, won a nervy bronze medal in the 10m synchronised platform yesterday with the last dive of the competition at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre here.

After missing out on bronze at London 2012 with former partner Pete Waterfield, a podium finish meant that Daley became Britain’s first diving multi-medallist at an Olympics as he and flat-mate Goodfellow finished behind China and the US respectively.

Daley admitted that to finish outside the medals — even if this was their first global championships together — would have placed significant pressure on him ahead of his 10m tilt.

Daley, the London 2012 bronze 10m medallist, took a day off from training today and will move out of the Team GB base for five days to be with family and friends “who have travelled out here and been so supportive of me”.

“I want to give my head and body a bit of a rest and come back into it three or four days before the competition,” said Daley, who will still train at the diving venue. “I will be going into the individual event giving it my best shot.”

China’s Lin Yue and Chen Aisen won gold in the synchro and Daley highlighted the latter, along with Olympic silver medallist Qiu Bo as his two major threats in the individual event, which starts a week on Friday.

“Those two are my top rivals, but I’m ready to try and beat them,” he said. “They are so strong and technically efficient at what they do. They are beatable so it’s a case of doing it on the day.”

Like Daley and Goodfellow, Britain’s Tonia Couch and Lois Toulson will also start last of the eight-strong final in the women’s 10m synchronised final, which starts at 8pm UK time.