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Daley comes under-fire from teammate

11/08/2008

14-year-old British diver Tom Daley has come under fire from his partner Blake Aldridge after the pair finished in last place in the 10m synchronised diving at the Olympics.

Daley has come under huge media scrutiny in the days leading up to the event, and Aldridge felt that the interest may have contributed to their poor performance.

"I didn't blow anything, so I can go home happy," said Aldridge.
"Unfortunately it's a partnership, you both have to be on the top of your game. I wasn't on top of my game but Tom was nowhere near the top of his."

Aldridge revealed the pair had a falling out between the fifth and final dives of the competition, which he puts down to the teenager's nerves.

"There was a little incident but it is an Olympic Games, you are in a different world and people are going to do things differently," he said.

"He had a pop at me before the last dive. I saw my mum in the audience and I asked her to give me a call and Tom went to me 'Why are you on the phone? We're still in the competition and we've got another dive to do.'

"That's just Thomas - he's over-nervous. Thomas should not be worrying about what I'm doing but he was worrying about everyone and everything and that to me is really the sole reason why he didn't perform."

Daley will have a chance to redeem himself when he returns to the Water Cube on Friday August 22nd when he will attempt to qualify for the individual final.

The Plymouth teenager had a differing opinion than his partner, and revealed that he thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

"I really enjoyed myself and had so much fun out there," he said.
"That is all you can ask for getting the experience of it. We prepared like a normal competition and we treated it like a normal competition.

"It was just the fact it wasn't our day today, we just had a bad day."