Tonia Couch is an old hand at the Olympics, which is why she’s throwing a protective arm around synchro diving partner Lois Toulson.
Toulson is just 16 and has found herself suddenly thrust into the limelight after Couch’s long-time partner, Sarah Barrow, suffered an injury last year.
Barrow will now focus on the individual platform event in Rio but Couch and Toulson are still seen as contenders in today’s 10m synchro competition - despite forging their partnership just nine months ago.
“When Sarah got I injured I didn’t know what they’d do and when they first put Lois and I together we were all over the place,” said Couch.
“I’d dived with Sarah for such a long time and I thought there was no way it was going to work but then we just clicked and everything came together.
“Lois is a scarily talented diver. I made my Olympics debut when I was 19, so this is going to be a big experience for her. It’s important to give young divers time but she will be one of the best in the world.”
At the recent European Championships in London, the pair were leading heading into the final round.
But Toulson made an error on their last dive and they dropped to fifth. Couch was the first to console her and give her words of encouragement, insisting they ‘let it go’ and ‘focus on Rio’.
However, a silver medal and two bronzes from recent Diving World Series events underlines undoubted promise.
Couch calls herself ‘the mum’ of the British team, though she’s only 27. When Tom Daley made his Olympic bow in Beijing, aged just 14, she played the role of friend and big sister and protecter from the media glare.
And it’s the same with Toulson, the youngest member of the British diving team.
“Perhaps this will be my last Olympics, I’m getting on,” she adds.
“I’ve told Lois to relax, there’s no pressure, she’s just 16. We’ve been diving together for a year, many of our rivals have been diving together for ten years.
“There’s no expectation, if we dive well then, of course, we can deal. But it’s about not worrying or stressing, let’s just enjoy it.”
Sportsbeat 2016