Olympic Diver Tom Daley Knitting His Way Through The Olympics
Marc Gordon - August 12, 2021

Happiest Days

By Edward H. Donnelly

I said to the little children,
"You are living your happiest days,"
And their bright eyes opened wider In innocent amaze.
For their happiness was so perfect,
They did not know it then;
"Oh, no," they said, "there'll be happier days
When we are women and men."

I said to the youth and maiden,
"You are living your happiest days,"
And into their sparkling eyes there crept
A dreamy, far-off gaze;
And their hands sought one another,
And their cheeks flushed rosy red;
" Oh, no," they said, " there'll be happier days
For us when we are wed."

I said to the man and woman,
"You are living your happiest days,"
As they laughingly watched together
Their baby's cunning ways.
"These days are days of labor.
They can hardly be our best;
There'll be happier days when the children are grown,
And we have earned our rest."

I said to the aged couple,
"You are living your happiest days,"
Your children do you honor,
You have won success and praise.
" With a peaceful look they answered,
"God is good to us, that's true: But we think there are happier days for us
In the life we're going to."

The 27-year-old British Olympic diver has been taking the Internet by storm and capturing the hearts of many after photos went viral of him knitting on the sidelines. Olympian Tom Daley from Great Britain is a four-time Olympic medalist, a double world champion, and recently won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics this year. If all of that wasn’t enough, he also happens to be a magnificent knitter. According to Daley, knitting became a passion of his from the start of lockdown. He’s just’ knot’s’ about it! (See what we did there?). It seems there’s so much more to Daley that we never knew that we just had to find out!

Getty Images/AFP/Oli Scarff

We think of Olympians as shape-defying, out-of-this-world humans, but they’re just like us in many ways and need activities in their lives to ground them as well. This is exactly why we are all for Daley’s knitting hobby. If you ask us, he should win a medal just for “best hobby” at the Tokyo Olympics. He even has a whole Instagram page dedicated to his knitting creations called @madewithlovebytomdaley. Can you think of anything more wholesome? When he won gold, he even knitted a cute sock for his medal to stay tucked and safe to prevent it from getting scratched. It’s kind of a genius idea actually.

You’d think that knitting is only reserved for grandmas, but Daley is proving that that is definitely a pastime. Not only do his knitting skills show his talent, but it also shows how fun and meditative this activity can be. Who knew knitting could have all these benefits. We are not sure how he managed to take the time to really hone in on his craft, but we are seriously impressed. He recently made a sweater dedicated to his time at the Olympics and explained, “When I got to Tokyo, I wanted to make something that would remind me of the Olympics to look back on in the future. I designed a pattern for the colorwork that would signify everything about these games!” We applaud Daley for all his achievements and hope he never stops knitting!