Having weathered the turbulent waters of the Tokyo Olympics, 2016 diving gold medallist Jack Laugher is embracing a wiser approach as he prepares for Paris 2024. The seasoned diver, who made his Olympic debut in London 2012 at the tender age of 17, is now a veteran of the sport, providing a sense of fatherly guidance to his younger teammates.
"I feel like I give that fatherly feel to the team," Laugher joked, acknowledging the significant age difference between him and his fellow divers. "There are people in the team who are 18 or 19, and I'm more than ten years their senior. They wouldn't know how to hang a picture frame."
Laugher's journey to Tokyo was far from straightforward, with the diver openly discussing his struggles with mental health in the lead-up to the Games. Despite adding an individual bronze medal to his collection, the experience left him with a sense of unfulfilled potential, particularly due to the largely empty stands.
"I had a bumpy road leading up to Tokyo, my mental state was in a bad place, so having no fans there might have taken the pressure off me a little bit," Laugher reflected. "But it also felt like a flat competition in that respect."
However, Laugher has emerged from this difficult period stronger, finding renewed joy in the sport. He now feels confident and motivated to continue competing at the highest level.
Following a disappointing seventh-place finish in the synchronised event at Tokyo alongside his former partner Dan Goodfellow, Laugher has formed a new partnership with Anthony Harding. The pair have quickly established a successful partnership, securing a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships and gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Harding, a 2018 Youth Olympics silver medallist, brings his own experience to the partnership, while Laugher remains determined to cement his position as one of the world's leading divers, despite the advancing years.
"I'm not as young as I was and that makes it more difficult, but I'm resigned to knowing things are going to get slightly slower and more difficult," Laugher acknowledged.
While age might not be a factor on the springboard, one aspect of the new partnership remains irreconcilable: musical taste.
"My music tastes have changed massively," Laugher confessed. "I don't like to be in that elevated state of all guns blazing. I'm into a lot of easy listening, whereas Anthony has just turned 24 and is into all the sort of stuff that I could no longer care less about."
Despite the generational gap in music preferences, Laugher remains focused on achieving his goals on the diving platform. He is determined to add to his Olympic medal collection and chase another podium finish in Paris.
