TEAM GB hero Tom Daley hopes his Tokyo 2020 diving gold inspires the LGBT community to "achieve anything".
The 27-year-old sent out an empowering message after partnering Matty Lee to Olympic glory in the men's synchronised 10m platform event, following his bronze medals in 2012 and 2016.
Having married Hollywood producer Dustin Lance Black in 2017 and had a son together through surrogacy, Daley is now on top of the world in his sporting career and personal life.
And the Plymouth superstar celebrated ending China's 21-year grip on the 10m event by hoping more people who unfairly felt "alone" or "different" could fulfil their potential.
He said: "When I was younger I always felt like the one who was alone and different and didn’t fit in and there was something about me that was always never going to be as good as what society wanted me to be.
"I hope that any young LGBT person out there can see that no matter how alone you feel right now, you are not alone and that you can achieve anything and there is a whole lot of your chosen family out here ready to support you.
"I feel incredibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion.
"I feel very empowered by that because when I was younger I thought that I was never going to be anything or achieve anything because of who I was and to be an Olympic champion now shows you can achieve anything."
Daley shot to fame as a poster boy of London 2012 and revealed he "couldn't be happier" when he came out the following year.
He told his YouTube channel how "something just clicked" and his "whole world changed there and then" when he met Dustin, now 47.
Daley wed the Californian screenwriter in May 2017 and their son Robert "Robbie" Ray Black-Daley was born 13 months later.
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The couple campaign for gay rights, with Daley being the patron of LGBT+ charity Switchboard (UK) since 2015.
And after seeing his husband edge out Chinese pair Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen for gold, Dustin posted ecstatically.
He said: "No words! So so many tears! @TomDaley1994 you’re an OLYMPIC CHAMPION! Congratulations Tom and @MattyLee!’"
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