Winning an Olympic medal is undeniably a special experience. But can it get even better? The answer is yes, according to Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow - it’s one made even more incredible when you’re sharing the podium with your best friend.
Leading up to this summer’s Olympic Games, Daley and Goodfellow did everything with each other – they trained together, they ate together, they even lived together, to ensure they were perfectly in sync come D-day in Rio.
Thankfully, their double effort paid off in some style, as they clinched 10m synchro bronze with their final dive of a dramatic final to capture Team GB’s first diving medal.
And in true Daley style, they celebrated in the pool – a flashback of the 22-year-old’s celebrations at London 2012 spring to mind – falling into the water in pure joy and disbelief.
For Goodfellow, making his Olympic debut, it was the realisation of a lifelong dream, and one he never expected to have achieved alongside his childhood hero.
“It’s been my dream since I was very young to win an Olympic medal, and the fact that I came away with one, alongside someone I looked up to as a young boy, was amazing,” he said.
“The lasting memory I will take away from the Games will be waiting at the bottom of those steps after our last dive, and waiting for the results to come up on the board.
“It felt like an absolute eternity, but when I realised we had won a medal, and all our teammates came around us and were congratulating us, that’s what it’s all about.
“I train all day, every day with a lot of those guys, and I know how hard they work, they know how hard I work, and to celebrate with them was a big moment for me.”
Having only started diving together ten months prior to the Olympic Games, Daley and Goodfellow had enjoyed a whirlwind of a season in the lead up to Rio, winning European silver and World Cup gold.
But a greater challenge awaited the boys in Brazil, and after slipping down to fifth in the fourth round of the final, the pair were only too aware they would have to pull off something special in their final two dives.
Diving last of the eight pairs, the Brits needed 83.62 from their final effort to seal a podium place – they made it look easy, scoring 89.64 to give them a total of 444.45 and gift them the bronze medal.
“We didn’t know if we had come fourth, we didn’t know if we had come third, but we knew that we had done a pretty good dive, so to see the scores come up and realise that we had got a bronze medal was so exciting and we were over the moon,” said Daley.
“It’s one of those moments that was just so amazing to be able to share with Dan.
“When the medal was placed around my neck, all I could think was ‘oh my goodness, it is massive’. But to be able to have Dan by my side, after all the training that we had been put through together, it was extra special.
“It’s so awesome to think that I have won two Olympic medals at two separate Olympic Games, and hopefully in 2020 there will be another one, and maybe a different colour!”
But after all the ups and downs that Daley experienced in Rio, what will be his lasting memory of the Games?
“Definitely the green pool.” Sportsbeat 2016