On August 1st, The UK’s Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley caught everyone’s eye when he was spotted knitting in the stands while watching the women’s springboard diving final at Tokyo Olympics.
The 27-year-old athlete, who recently bagged gold alongside Matty Lee in the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform event, was seen knitting a cute pink-and-purple pouch at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
From embracing his passion out in the public to enjoying the simple joys of life, he is absolutely crushing toxic social constructs like a boss. Just look at him knitting!
Needless to say, his pictures and videos instantly caught the attention of the broadcasters. Even the official page of the Tokyo Olympics shared a post of him knitting, which later went viral on social media.
Oh this? Just Olympic champ @TomDaley1994 knitting in the stands while watching the diving. 🧶 pic.twitter.com/o17i6vsG2j
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 1, 2021
After bagging the gold at Tokyo Olympics, he highlighted his love for knitting and shared that he had spun a tiny pouch for his medal. He said that knitting and stitching had helped him stay calm during the entire process.
Myself and Matty won the Olympics yesterday and I thought I would just come and say that the one thing that has kept me sane during this whole process is my love for knitting, crochet and all things stitching. This morning I made a little cozy pouch for my medal. It has the British flag on one side, and the Canadian flag on the other. It tucks in nicely. It is a nice pouch for me to carry my medal without getting scratched.
What did @TeamGB‘s @TomDaley1994 do after winning an Olympic gold medal?
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2021
He knitted a little pouch for it 😍#TokyoOlympics (via IG/madewithlovebytomdaley) pic.twitter.com/SCg3lV3KIk
Netizens, who lauded him for being ‘a true confident champ’, celebrated his love for knitting through their tweets.
What a lovely young man he is ❤️❤️ I’m so thrilled for him he got his gold 👏👏
— GlosMouse (@GlosMouse) August 1, 2021
Knitting is one way of relieving stress . Well done Tom keep it up!
— 💙Trisha (@Trish78241878) August 1, 2021
Great idea, it's an ace way to bridge waiting times, it's relaxing and productive, more people and esp. men should take it up.
— Sophia Jetta (@Wer_ko_der_ko) August 1, 2021
Knitting is very calming when you’re stressed. Learned to knit while sitting with my Dad during his chemo treatments.
— Connie Overbey (@ohmrsko) August 1, 2021
What a champ! Mixing passions unashamedly… showing that this is entirely as it should be.
— 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️Wolfish🐺 (@unit_1974) August 1, 2021
Anyone one of you judging him are the reason why showing this is important.
Because people still have issues that really make no sense.
Isn’t this too cute to handle?