Troll Harasses Olympic Diver Tom Daley On Twitter, Gets Arrested

Hopefully this will make people think twice before being hateful on the Internet.

1. This is Tom Daley And His Late Father

(Andy Stenning)

Tom is an 18-year-old British diver who has captured the imagination of his home country. Last year Daley’s father died of brain cancer. It’s a personal tragedy that has inspired Daley to strive for more. Daley told the BBC: “Winning a medal would make all the struggles that I’ve had worthwhile.” He also said, “I’m doing it for myself and my dad. It was both our dreams from a very young age. I always wanted to do it and Dad was so supportive of everything. It would make it extra special to do it for him.”

2. Yesterday, Daley And His Partner Peter Waterfield Missed Out On Medaling

The duo had been performing very well and were in contention for gold until they blew their fourth dive. They ended up finishing fourth.

Image by Clive Rose / Getty Images

3. After The Event, Daley Tweeted:

4. One 17-Year-Old British “Fan” Was Very Disappointed And Decided To Be A Jerk

@Rileyy_69

6. Daley Retweeted The Hateful Message To His Followers

7. At First This Didn’t Stop “Rileyy_69”

9. But Then People Started Swarming Rileyy And He Backed Down

13. But Tom Didn’t Respond And That Angered Rileyy

15. And Then Rileyy Got Arrested

On suspicion of “Malicious Communication.”

Source: dailymail.co.uk

17. The Lesson?

Edit: Other outlets are reporting that Rileyy also threatened to “drown” the diver, though by the time I searched his tweets that wasn’t there. It’s possible that he has since deleted that particular tweet.

Image by Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images