Olympic champion Matty Lee – who won gold for Team GB alongside Tom Daley at the 2020 Tokyo Games – has announced his retirement from diving.
Lee and Daley won Olympic gold in the men’s 10m synchro at the Covid-postponed Games in 2021, the highlight of a career that brought medals at every major international level.
The 26-year-old, who underwent surgery on his spine in early 2024, announced his decision to retire on Instagram.
Tom Daley and Matty Lee pictured with their gold medals at the Tokyo Games
“After 20 years in the sport, it’s time for me to step away from diving,” he wrote.
“This decision hasn’t been easy, but after losing my dad in 2022, I struggled to find the same passion I once had, he was my why. Then came injuries, surgeries, and the realisation that I don’t want to be a broken man moving forward.”
Lee made his World Championship debut aged just 17 in 2015. Two years later he won world mixed 10m synchro silver alongside Lois Toulson and then – in the year after his Olympics success – took silver in the men’s event at the 2022 Worlds alongside Noah Williams.
A European title also came alongside Daley in Budapest in May 2021 the pair warming up for their win in Tokyo, where they defied the odds to beat China’s Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen to gold by 1.2 points.
Also in 2022, Lee and Williams added the Commonwealth Games title to their world silver, but in March of last year Lee underwent a discectomy on the L5/S1 disc in his spine – ruling him out of the Paris Olympics.
In making his announcement, Leeds-born Lee paid tribute to his late father Tim as he thanked family, friends, coaches, team-mates and fans for helping him throughout his career.
“What’s next?” he wrote. “Honestly, I don’t know. And that’s both terrifying and exciting. But I do know this, there’s more to life than diving, and I’m ready for it.”
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