'I'm more aware of the risks': Tom Daley reveals he is daunted by high diving boards
HE MIGHT be a pillar of strength nowadays, but Olympic diver Tom Daley hasn't always been so confident.
The celebrity diver recently told how the height of the board becomes increasingly daunting to him as the years progress.
Tom, who is an Olympic bronze medallist, said he has to "overcome" the mental challenges of confronting the dangers associated with his sport.
Speaking to Radio Times ahead of his participation in the Commonwealth Games, the 20-year-old said: "As you get older you become more aware of the risks. So I would say it gets scarier, but it's nothing you can't deal with and overcome.
He went on: "I see a sports psychologist and have done for years, all the GB divers do. Diving's quite a psychological sport, you have to be able to visualise the dive before you can execute it."
Daley - who coached stars celebrities for the ITV diving series Splash! - said he was pleased to be competing in a major competition in the UK, when the diving events at the games in Glasgow get under way from July 30.
"I'll have my friends and family cheering me on, which is great. That's one of the benefits of having a major competition so close to home.
Daley had a scare of a different sort this week when a plane on which he was flying with partner Dustin Lance Black made an emergency landing in Russia after "a technical issue".
Their Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 had to put down in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, on a flight from Shanghai to London.