‘I’M NOT GOING TO LIE, IT IS A REALLY SCARY THING’

Tom Daley is not diving at this year’s Commonwealth Games. Instead, he is using his platform to change the world. Daley competed at his first Olympics in Beijing at the age of 14. Now 28, he has spent half his lifetime in the public eye. The Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth champion is one of the great British sports stars of recent times and, since coming out aged 19 in 2013, he has been an increasingly confident, outspoken advocate for LGBT+ rights.

At this year’s Commonwealth Games, while not competing, Daley will be making an even bigger splash than usual. He is not only highlighting the fact that it is currently illegal to be gay in 35 of the 54 sovereign states of the Commonwealth, but actively working to bring about change. This quest has been filmed for a new BBC documentary. On an early morning Zoom call from his home in East London, Daley is relaxed, upbeat and focused on his mission. It began at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast in 2018.

“I was competing in the Commonwealth Games, I had just won a gold medal, and was sitting having a burger with