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November 10, 2024
(AFP) – Tom Daley has knitted jumpers, cardigans and speedos, and now the retired Olympic diving champion is displaying his most vibrant creations but with an exhibition of his handicrafts in Tokyo.
The Briton on Friday returned to town the place he gained Olympic gold with Matty Lee three years in the past to open a showcase of his knitting and crocheting, which runs till November 25.
It options technicolour jumpers, day-glo sweaters and the Olympic-themed cardigan that made him a viral sensation when he was noticed knitting it whereas ready to compete on the Tokyo Video games in 2021.
The 30-year-old retired from diving after successful silver at this yr’s Paris Olympics, and mentioned he was now in a position to “explore other things” with extra time on his arms.
“For me, knitting is my way of escape — it’s the thing that I think helped me win an Olympic gold medal here in Tokyo,” Daley advised AFP.
“I take people on the journey of how I learned how to knit, why I learned how to knit, and then taking it all the way through to all of my creations.
“Individuals will be capable to see my Olympic medals as nicely.”
Daley says he took up the hobby in 2020 as a way of forcing himself to sit still and allow his body to recover from training sessions, but then “grew to become utterly obsessed by it”.
He has rarely put down his needles since — even posing in knitted speedos — and hopes his love for knitting comes across in the exhibition.
“For me it is concerning the group, it is concerning the craft, it is about being hand-made and slowing down,” he said.
“That is one thing that I really like about knitting, that it is extremely worthwhile for psychological well being as nicely.”
Daley was on hand to give a workshop to visitors on the exhibition’s opening day.
Some of his creations on display will be sold at auction, with the proceeds going to a Tokyo-based LGBTQ organisation.
Daley says he would like to do another show, and is enjoying having more time since retiring from diving.
He says he hopes to be involved in broadcast work at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where he lives with his husband Dustin Lance Black and their children.
Daley says he also wants to expand on his “ardour for knitting”, and “carry that to as many individuals as potential”.
“If somebody had advised me 5 years in the past that I used to be going to be extra well-known for knitting than diving, I in all probability would have laughed,” he said.
“However it’s a kind of issues… I can not think about my life now with out knitting.”
