The Slanch Report

Because most of the swimming events are underway or already finished, most of the news coming from the Olympics so far have centered on those athletes. For example, Tom Daley, the 14 year old diving prodigy whom we talked about earlier, had a lot of expectations placed upon him to do well at the games and instead came in 8th place in the synchronized diving event. Fortunately, his 26 year old partner, Blake Aldridge, took the time to speak with reporters afterwards and spoke glowingly of his young teammate.

Wait, did I say glowingly? Sorry, I meant instead that Aldridge blamed their failure on Daley. Nicely done, douchenozzle.

The big quote from Aldridge goes:

“It’s a synchro team, there’s two of us, and that’s the hard thing about it,” Aldridge said. “Both of you have to be on your game at the same time and that just didn’t happen today. Thomas is 14 years old. He’s done phenomenally and for me to be a part of a partnership with him is a great thing. I knew, going into this Olympic Games, that we were capable of a medal, but I also knew that it depended on how Tom performed. I wasn’t on the top of my game, but I out-dived Thomas today and that’s not something that normally happens. That to me is because he had a lot more pressure on him than I did.

“I’m not disappointed with my performance. I wasn’t at my best but I landed on my head with every single dive, which was my aim. But it was hard work for me today. Tom was very nervous, more so than ever before. I think he really struggled to get through the competition, and as his partner it was hard for me to get up there and try and ease him into it. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t work today.

“He had a pop at me before the last dive, when we were sitting down. I saw my mum in the audience and I asked her to give me a call and Tom went to me, ‘Why are you on the phone? We’re still in the competition and we’ve got another dive to do.’ That’s just Thomas – he’s over-nervous and that’s how it was today. Thomas should not be worrying about what I’m doing, but today he was worrying about everyone and everything and that to me is really the sole reason why he didn’t perform today.”

Now, to be fair, Aldridge has probably been spending his entire life getting ready for the Olympics and being frustrated is certainly fair and to be expected. But c’mon throwing your teammate under the bus like that? That’s just petty and childish, and only makes you look worse, especially when your teammate is saying all the opposite things and is merely a teenager.

Aldridge’s games are unfortunately now over, but Daley still has one more event, in ten days, where he can get the chance to try and redeem himself. “Tom’s lucky that he has got another chance,” Aldridge concluded, “and I hope he takes a lot of experience from this and that it stands him in good stead. Unfortunately I don’t have another chance.”