As the Tokyo Olympic Games end, Tom Daley has an abundance of things to celebrate. After winning his first gold medal in the men’s synchronized 10m platform diving with his partner, Matty Lee at the start of the games, Daley achieved another milestone, 1 million subscribers to his YouTube channel.
When the British diver started his channel almost eleven years ago, he was preparing for the 2012 Olympics in London. Over a year later, Daley posted a video to his YouTube channel not only coming out as gay but revealing he had met someone.
Viewers to Daley’s channel would soon learn that someone was none other than Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Milk, a film about early gay rights advocate Harvey Milk.
On Wednesday, August 4, Daley posted “1 Million Subscribers Special| Channel Rewind” to celebrate hitting the million mark in subscribers. Daley explained:
“We made it to one million subscribers. I cannot believe it! So thank you to each and every one of you that are subscribed to my channel. It’s been real. It’s been emotional. There’s been a lot of ups and downs throughout my YouTube career that started way back when.”
The video includes some of Daley’s favorite moments from the channel.
During the pandemic in 2020, Daley took up knitting and went viral for the cardigan he knitted during his downtime at the Tokyo Games. The 27-year-old diver showed off the finished cardigan in a video for his knitting Instagram account, Made with Love by Tom Daley.
The Tokyo Games served as a moment of redemption for Daley in the individual competition. While he failed to qualify for the finals in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Daley cruised through the preliminary and semi-finals. With a tight race between Daley and divers from China and Russia, the British diver took the bronze medal in the Men’s 10m Platform Finals while China’s Cao Yuan and Yang Jian won the gold and silver respectfully.
Daley took to his Instagram account to celebrate winning the bronze.
Daley’s husband, Black posted a congratulatory tweet to the diver on his Twitter account.
Are you kidding me?! Another Olympic medal! Two for two! So so so proud of you my love! Now bring those medals home my sweet champion. 🧶 pic.twitter.com/QMCvlQo0uD
— Dustin Lance Black (@DLanceBlack) August 7, 2021
While unaware of the homophobic vitriol from a Russian news program targeting him and other LGBTQ Olympians during the Games, Daley spoke out about how the visibility of LGBTQ athletes could help others “feel less alone, like they are valued and they can achieve something.”
Sources: Tom Daley Official YouTube Channel, USA TODAY, Made With Love by Tom Daley Instagram Account, BBC, The Guardian, Olympics.com, Tom Daley Official Instagram Account, Dustin Lance Black Official Twitter Account, The Washington Post,
Knitting? Um, ok…🙄 I guess we know who the wife is.