Tom Daley is competing in his fourth Olympiad, but it wasn’t until this week that he finally won a coveted gold medal.
Daley and partner Matty Lee won gold in the men’s 10m platform synchronized diving event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The two won by an extraordinarily narrow margin, claiming Daley’s long-awaited gold.
So what was the secret to finally win a gold at the Olympics? Daley provided the answer during an interview with NBC after the event.
“To go to my fourth Olympic Games now and to finally do it, it’s such a magical moment,” Daley said. “I think the big difference this year was that I never ever visualized anything other than that gold medal. And Matty did the same. Every day, every night before bed, the gold medal, what we were going to do to get there. Never ever visualizing anything going wrong.
“I think the power of visualization and imagining yourself on the top, is what you got to do,” Daley said.
Visualization is an important part of the mental process in preparing for athletic competition. Visualizing yourself doing something before it happens can often help that picture come true in real life. It sounds like it worked perfectly for Daley, who also has won two Olympic bronze medals in the past.
