Tom Daley Dives Into Madame Tassauds

With the Olympics less than five months away, Madame Tussauds London unveiled a brand new wax figure of Tom Daley, paying tribute to Team GB and Daley as one of the faces of London 2012.

One of the most dramatic figures ever to feature at Madame Tussauds, Daley is captured in mid-dive as he soars from the diving board towards the water. The high impact figure is suspended at a height of four metres in a specially designed aquatic set and guests can literally walk right underneath as Daley is frozen in action.

The champion diver commented: "I can't wait to see the figure and know the sculptors will have done an amazing job.

"I'm sure it'll be a strange feeling to see my 'twin' suspended in mid-dive - it really is an honour to be in Madame Tussauds London amongst so many sporting legends."

Over the last six months Tom has been heavily involved in the creation of the figure, from choosing the pose and donating his blue adidas trunks; he even managed to squeeze in two sittings with Madame Tussauds sculptors between training and studying for his A-levels. 

17-year old immortalised in wax

The figure was one of the most complex ever created by the Madame Tussauds Studios team, because of the unique nature of the pose.  

The facial expression shows Daley totally focused in the moment of the dive.

The inverted positioning also created special challenges for the hair and colouring team and a special spinning support mechanism was created to allow the team to rotate the figure during the final stages of completion.