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Preparation going well, says diving prodigy Daley

16/06/2008

One of Great Britain's top Olympic hopefuls, 14-year-old diver Tom Daley, says his preparation for the Beijing Games is going well.

The teenager is the youngest representative in Team GB heading out to China for the Games in August.

Speaking at a fashion photoshoot before the competition, where himself and three other British medal hopefuls including gymnast Beth Tweddle were given the chance to try on clothes by several top designers, Daley said he is keen to get out to China soon in order to acclimatise to the new surroundings.

"I've been training so hard for the last four months in preparation for the Beijing Olympics," he revealed.

"I've got three lots of competitions coming up internationally in the World Series - one in Sheffield, one in Mexico and one in China - so it'll be good to get out to China to practice competing ahead of the Games there this summer."

Daley, who has attracted much media attention due to his tender years, admitted he feels somewhat overawed by the interest shown in him - particularly at events like this one.

"It feels extremely weird to have top designers like Vivienne Westwood designing you some clothes to wear and to think they're putting all this effort into us," he added.

The photoshoot was arranged by British Olympic sponsors Visa, with long-distance runner Mo Farah and paralympian equestrian Natasha Baker joining Tweddle and Daley in front of the cameras.

Click to view a video clip of the Team GB Visa event.