But the Tokyo Games, delayed by a year due to the pandemic, also marked Daley's debut as an accomplished knitter and crocheter - a hitherto semi-hidden side to his life.
No one was more surprised than the man himself by the reaction to the sight of him in the near-empty Tokyo Aquatics Centre, painstakingly creating what would become his personal tribute to the host city.
In a way, that white cardigan, embellished with the union flag, the Team GB logo and the Olympic rings, the kanji characters for "Tokyo" embroidered on the front, was symbolic of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the Games. Spectators were banned from all but a handful of venues, while daily medal counts were accompanied by a running total of new Covid-19 infections in the Olympic Village.
Knitting, Daley explained, had been a distraction from the intense pressure of competition, and from the tedium of the pandemic bubble.
Three years later, he is poised to revisit Japan with his first ever knitted art exhibition, at Parco Museum Tokyo. The event, from 8-25 November with Daley there on the opening day to give a knitting workshop, will include personally selected pieces under the theme Made With Love - the name given to his range of yarns.
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