'End of an era': Tom Daley to retire from diving after 16 years as a sporting hero

Tom Daley, one of the heroes of Britain's Olympic renaissance, has confirmed that the Paris Games were his last.

- Paul MacInnes

The 30-year-old is to retire from competitive diving after five Games, five medals and a legacy that goes well beyond the unparalleled success he achieved in his sport.

Daley returned to the UK yesterday after another successful Olympics for Team GB. The silver medal he achieved alongside Noah Williams in the synchronised 10m platform event was one of 65 British medals, a total that was one up on that in Tokyo three years ago. Daley, who served as a British flagbearer at the opening ceremony, acknowledged it was "the end of an era" but that "it was the right time to call it a day".

In an interview with Vogue, Daley said he had made the decision to retire before competition began in Paris and that the experience of taking to the board in the sync final, knowing it would be his ultimate effort, had been "surreal".

"I felt so incredibly nervous going into this, knowing it was my last Olympics," he said. "It was emotional at the end, up there on the platform, knowing it was going to be my last competitive dive. But I have to make the decision at some point, and it feels like the right time. It's the right time to call it a day."