Olympics: Daley and Waterfield Keep Dive Hope in Sight

Britain's 14-year-old diving prodigy Tom Daley has kept alive his slim chances of an Olympic medal by qualifying for the latter stages of the men's 10 meter platform competition despite a faltering start to the preliminary rounds.

Daley was in 24th place in a 30-man field after a nervous opening dive but regained his composure to finish 12th and book himself a place in today's semi-finals. Only the 12 best divers will advance to the final, with China seeking to complete a clean sweep of all eight titles at this year's Games.

Daley admitted he had been disappointed with his first dive, his most difficult, which scored a mediocre 68.0 but his third effort, a three-and-a-half inwards somersault and tuck, received 86.4, the third-highest mark of the round.

"My first dive is normally where I would pick up some points because it is my highest degree of difficulty," Daley said. "I needed to do that third dive as well as I possible could to have a chance of qualifying for the semi-final. My entries weren't as sharp as they could be today so tomorrow hopefully I'll be able to sharpen up a little bit."

He also impressed the judges in round five with a smoothly executed backwards three-and-a-half somersault and tuck, effectively securing his place in the 18-strong semi-final line-up. During his time in between competitions Daley admitted he had been inspired by watching other British athletes win medals.

"Britain have done absolutely amazingly. It is really good to be part of that team."

Britain's other high-board competitor, Pete Waterfield, qualified in fourth place. The 27-year-old won a silver medal in synchronized competition in Athens but has not won an individual Olympic medal. He believes, after his performance in the drawn-out qualifier, he can contend for a medal despite the recurrence of a shoulder injury that required a pain-killing injection and put his participation in doubt. "I'm not here to make up the numbers," Waterfield said.

China's Zhou Luxin was the highest-placed qualifier but the world No1 Sascha Klein of Germany and Australia's Matthew Mitcham are are well placed in their bid to prevent the host nation from adding to its seven diving golds.