Tom Dean and Duncan Scott win Olympic gold and silver medals for Team GB in men’s 200m freestyle

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Team GB were in dreamland last night after another sensational day at the Tokyo Olympics as the gold medals continued to roll in on what is being dubbed ‘Magic Monday’.

Swimmer Tom Dean was the latest to streak home to victory as he became the first British man to win an Olympic freestyle gold in 113 years.

The 21-year-old touched the wall in the 200m freestyle in a British record of 1min 44.2sec, just 0.04sec ahead of teammate Duncan Scott in silver.

Dean’s win was all the more impressive as he suffered Covid twice in the last year meaning he missed several weeks of important training during his second bout with the virus in January.

Divers Tom Daley and Matty Lee also produced outstanding performances yesterday to snatch the gold away from their Chinese rivals in the synchronised 10m platform.

Meanwhile Adam Peaty rocketed to another victory in the 100m breaststroke, becoming the first Briton to defend an Olympic title.

And cyclist Tom Pidcock pedalled home to an extraordinary win in mountain biking despite being hit by a car and breaking his collarbone just eight weeks ago.

Team GB have so far won four gold medals, five silvers and a bronze, leaving them with ten in total and sitting in fifth in the table behind the US, Japan, China and Russia.

It was mechanical engineering student Dean’s first medal against a full international field and he is just the second British man after Peaty to have struck gold in 33 years.

For Scott, this was a third Olympic medal after he also won two relay silvers at Rio 2016. His time was also his personal best and he finished 0.44sec clear of Brazilian Fernando Scheffer, who won bronze.

It was the first time since 1908 two Brits have shared the top two spots on an Olympic podium in swimming, with Henry Taylor and Thomas Sidney Battersby winning gold and silver in the 1500m freestyle in London 113 years ago.

Dean, who has suffered from Covid twice in the last 12 months, said: ‘I knew it was going to be a dog fight. I didn’t know how people were going to swim it. It was just race to race.

‘Thanks so much to everyone back home, my mum, my family, my girlfriend, all the boys back in Maidenhead, thank you for staying up.’

Scott said: ‘Just a massive credit to Tom Dean, that was unbelievable. Olympic champion – he’s come along so far in the last 18 months, it’s a pleasure to watch.’

He continued: ‘It’s great to be able to say he’s a good mate out of the pool. It’s great being able to compete against him as well.

‘Obviously I’m delighted with that. For me massive credit to my coach Steve Tigg. I wouldn’t be standing here without him.

‘The journey I’ve been on with him since I was about eight years old has been phenomenal. I’m just buzzing for Deano to be honest.’

Earlier in the pool, Daley and Lee overcame the dominant Chinese pairing of Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen on the synchronised 10m platform.

It is Daley’s first Olympic gold and follows bronzes at the London and Rio Games. The 27-year-old and Lee, 23, executed a series of near-perfect dives win.

Within hours it lead to bookmakers slashing Daley’s odds to also take home Sports Personality of the Year from 80/1 to 11/2.

Daley admitted he had feared his glorious golden moment was never going to come after finally fulfilling his 20-year Olympic dream.

The poster boy of British diving started out in the sport as a seven-year-old and memorably made his Games debut aged 14 at Beijing 2008.

But despite winning bronzes at both London 2012 and Rio 2016, only on Monday and at his fourth Games was Daley able to claim the one medal he really craved.

‘Many times I’ve doubted that this moment would ever come,’ confessed Daley, who was in tears as he stood on top of the podium and the national anthem played out at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

‘I dreamt since I started diving 20 years ago for this moment, becoming an Olympic champion. But to take it to my fourth Olympics, where a lot of people would have not considered it my peak Games, it is unbelievable.

‘I thought Rio was going to be the Olympics where I had the best chance of becoming an Olympic champion and that turned out completely opposite. Then in 2018, I had broken shins. Starting off last year, I broke my hand. 

‘Even up until June, I had a pretty bad knee injury – I tore my meniscus and went under knee surgery.

‘It was either I couldn’t walk or have surgery, so I had to risk it. There was a chance that I wasn’t actually going to be able to be here because they said it would be four to six weeks, and it was six weeks by the time we left for Tokyo.

‘But my husband said to me my story wasn’t finished and that our child was meant to watch me become an Olympic champion. I can now say he has – albeit on TV. I genuinely still can’t believe it actually just happened.’

It was three years ago that Daley had son Robbie with his husband Dustin Lance Black, who he was seen speaking to on a poolside TV screen after collecting his gold medal. And the 27-year-old has credited fatherhood with transforming his fortunes in his sport.

‘Being a father was a massive turning point in my career as an athlete,’ said Daley. ‘I realised whether I did really well or terribly I can go home to a husband and son who love me regardless.

‘Knowing that love is unconditional to go and stand on that diving board, I can take that pressure off myself and enjoy it. It has changed my whole perspective.’

Daley also said he hoped his victory would serve as an inspiration to young LGBT people. ‘I feel incredibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion,’ explained Daley.

‘When I was younger I didn’t think I’d ever achieve anything because of who I was. I hope that any young LGBT person out there can see that no matter how alone you feel right now, you are not alone. You can achieve anything.’

Daley’s only regret was that his own inspirational father, Rob, was not alive to see his crowning moment, having died from a brain tumour in 2011.

‘I really wish that my dad was able to see me win any Olympic medal,’ said Daley. ‘When he passed away in 2011, it was extremely difficult for me.

‘He never got to see me compete in London or in Rio or here, but I know he would be extremely proud of how I have become an Olympic champion. It was always our dream growing up.’

Daley has only been diving with Lee since 2018. But they won world bronze the following year and were tipped for at least a podium place here after victories at the European Championships and a Tokyo test event in May.

But to do that they had to overcome the formidable world champion Chinese pair. Daley and Lee trailed Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen after three of six dives but an error by the favourites in the fourth round put the British duo ahead.

They were able to sustain that lead going into the final and most difficult dive, which they executed perfectly to score 101.01.

And that proved to be enough, despite an agonising wait to see the final result after Cao and Chen scored 101.52 with their last effort – meaning just 1.23 points separated the pairs.

‘We were waiting and hoping to see a two next to China’s name and when we did, I just lost my c***!’ said Lee, who was making his Olympics debut.

Lee first met Daley as a nine-year-old and admitted it was surreal to win gold with his hero, who even hung the medal around his partner’s neck.

‘When I was younger, I was a fan of Tom’s and I always watched him and idolised him and I wanted to be him basically,’ added Lee. ‘Now years on we are best mates and Olympic gold medallists. It is pretty crazy.’

Daley, who begins his individual event on Friday week, had previously said he would likely retire if he completed his gold medal mission. 

Yet when asked if that was still the case following Monday’s win, he admitted: ‘That’s kind of one of those things you say because you want to win an Olympic gold medal but never think you actually will.

‘No, I think I’m going to carry on. I’m definitely going to take a break after this. There are some beverages with my name on it to celebrate with my husband and family at home. But there’s only three years now to Paris, so we’ll see.’

Elsewhere Peaty described his 10-month old son as his ‘motivation, commitment and dedication’ after coming through the challenges of early parenthood to make history here in Tokyo.

The 26-year-old became the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title as he secured Team GB’s first gold of these Games in the early hours of Monday.

Peaty admitted the pandemic and the arrival of his baby boy George last September had thrown his preparation for the delayed Olympics completely off course as he adapted to sleepless nights and changing nappies.

But despite his hectic home life the ruthless world record holder kept his focus to maintain his utter domination of the 100metres breaststroke — winning gold in 57.37sec, more than half a second clear of Dutchman Arno Kamminga.

‘Going into this Olympics was very different and then throwing a baby in there, that upset things a little bit,’ said Peaty. ‘But looking at him every single day was my motivation, my commitment and my dedication. That’s what counted.

‘I sleep next to this little medallion out here and it’s a reminder of him and those hard moments when he was waking up every two hours for a nappy change or a feed. 

‘Some days, I woke up and was like, ‘F*** me, this is hard’. My eyes just got slowly heavier and heavier. I had these big bags. I was going to races to get some sleep!

The journey had been equally hard for cyclist Pidcock, who broke his collarbone just eight weeks ago after being hit side-on by a car while training.

But he still made history yesterday as the boy nicknamed Tigger bounced to the top of the Tokyo podium to claim Britain’s first mountain biking gold medal.

The 21-year-old from Leeds flew off rocks and hurtled around corners as he wound around the course in Izu in exhilarating fashion.

He overtook both an eight-time world champion and the world number one to secure victory in the men’s cross-country race.

And his 20-second lead gave him enough time to grab a Union Jack from the course’s edge and wave it as he crossed the finish line in tears.

Pidcock’s mother Sonja Harper, 53, who watched with husband Giles Pidcock, 54, from their home, said: ‘I’m feeling relieved and elated, and really emotional.

A bit sad we can’t be with Tom, and can’t celebrate tonight. I’ve been crying all morning but in the end, I just feel completely delighted for Tom after everything he’s done to get here.’

The cyclist shattered his collarbone into five pieces when he was hit by a car ahead of the Tour de Suisse in May. His coach said he was ‘catapulted over the car’.

But he was back on his bike six days after surgery and vowed that he would win in Tokyo. He said yesterday: ‘It’s been such a hard time coming here from crashing and breaking my collarbone and that’s just unbelievable.’

Continuing a trend of British athletes turning the air blue post-event, he added: ‘I’m happy this s*** is [the Olympics] only every four years because it’s f****** stressful.

‘I know that my mum and girlfriend are crying at home. It’s sad that they can’t be here but I see them when I get home.

‘It’s nothing like any other race. The Olympics just transcends any sport. You compete and represent your country and everyone in your country is behind you, no matter what sports they like.’

Pidcock’s victory is Great Britain’s first Olympic mountain biking medal of any colour.

Dutch pre-race favourite Mathieu van der Poel flipped over his handlebars after falling off rocks in the first lap. Pidcock, nicknamed Tigger by his family as he is always ‘bouncing around’, has devoted his life to the sport.

Mrs Harper, a fitness instructor, said: ‘It’s hard work, and it’s lonely. It’s eating right, sleeping right, missing your family all the time. It’s 24/7. He’s so dedicated to his training.’