Tom Daley's Girlfriend Defends Olympian Against Twitter Abuse
Great Britain Olympian Tom Daley had more to worry about this week than just getting that gold medal around his neck at the Olympic Games.
A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in the United Kingdom after allegedly sending Daley, a Team Great Britain diver, an 'abusive' Twitter message, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The message said that Daley, who missed out on a medal in the men's synchronised 10 meter diving event on July 30 by coming in fourth, had let down his father. Daley's father died of cancer in May 2011.
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After the competition on Monday, a Twitter message was posted saying, "@TomDaley1994 you let your dad down i hope you know that."
The account was only available to confirmed followers, but retweets continued to send threatening messages to Daley with one fantasizing over drowning Daley in a swimming pool, according to MSN.
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Daley,18, got stardom when he competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the age of 14.
In response to the hurtful tweets, Daley retweeted, "After giving it my all...you get idiot's sending me this." He also called for the Twitter account sending the first message regarding his father to be banned.
The Twiiter user that posted the messages to Daley later apologized for his comment, saying, "I'm sorry mate i just wanted you to win cause its the olympics I'm just annoyed we didn't win I'm sorry tom accept my apology...please i don't want to be hated I'm just sorry you didn't win I was rooting for you pal to do britain all proud."
On July 31, the Dorset Police posted on their own Twitter account, "regarding tweets to @TomDaley1994 - 17-year-old man arrested this morning at a guest house in Weymouth area. Enquiries continue" and on a later tweet they said "Good luck to Team GB today."
A spokesperson for the police told NBCNews.com that the UK teenager was arrested on suspicion of stating "malicious communications."
Before the Olympics, Daley told BBC that his father gave him the inspiration to compete in the Games.
"I'm doing it for myself and my dad. It was both our dreams from a very young age," he said. "I always wanted to do it and Dad was so supportive of everything."
Meanwhile, Daley's rumored girlfriend and American diver Kassidy Cook, comforted him via Twitter, saying: "Don't worry, you'll get them in individuals. Miss you!" She also tweeted back to the abusive internet troll, saying: "Your a horrible person. Just shut up."
