{"id":22990,"date":"2026-06-11T00:58:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T00:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/11\/im-disappointed-and-im-not-alone-matty-lee-hits-out-at-olympic-presidents-amateur-stance-on-pay-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T00:58:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T00:58:40","slug":"im-disappointed-and-im-not-alone-matty-lee-hits-out-at-olympic-presidents-amateur-stance-on-pay-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/11\/im-disappointed-and-im-not-alone-matty-lee-hits-out-at-olympic-presidents-amateur-stance-on-pay-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m disappointed and I\u2019m not alone\u2019: Matty Lee hits out at Olympic president\u2019s \u2018amateur\u2019 stance on pay – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympic gold medallist diver reflects on the financial and emotional challenges since retiring from the sport, and teaming up with his hero Tom Daley
\u201cI<\/span>t\u2019s like I\u2019ve already got an open wound and you\u2019re stabbing me in it,\u201d Matty Lee says as, deep into our second hour at a beautiful old Edwardian swimming pool in Leeds, we turn to Kirsty Coventry\u2019s recent comments that athletes should not be paid at the Olympic Games. In her role as the International Olympic Committee president Coventry, a former swimmer who won seven Olympic\u00a0medals including gold in 2004 and 2008, has caused outrage among athletes<\/a>.
The IOC confirmed in its own financial report that it made $12.4bn (\u00a39.2bn) between 2021 and\u00a02024 and so Lee, an Olympic diving champion, grimaces when he considers Coventry\u2019s resistance to paying the people we want to watch \u2013 the athletes. It is sobering to consider her stance in the company of Lee who, without bitterness, has told me about his hidden world as a retired Olympic champion now struggling emotionally and financially.
\u201cI know how much hard work I put into diving,\u201d Lee says after we have discussed how he overcame the challenge of training for the Olympics on an initial \u00a312,000 a year and the exhilaration he and his great friend Tom Daley experienced when they won the 10m synchronised Olympic title in\u00a0Tokyo in 2021<\/a>.
\u201cI know how much hard work other athletes put in \u2013 and how much joy it brings the country,\u201d Lee\u00a0says. \u201cNineteen years of doing the same thing, being so regimented and always having a purpose, and loving it. But now I don\u2019t have any real purpose in life and I\u2019ve not got a wedge of money. I\u2019ve not got a house, I\u2019ve not got a mortgage. I\u2019ve not got many assets. It\u2019s 18 months since I retired and I still feel the same as I did in January 2025. I wake up every morning and don\u2019t feel that happy.\u201d
Coventry subsequently clarified her statement on the IOC\u2019s Athlete365 Instagram account<\/a>, stating she misspoke on camera and meant to specify \u201cprize\u00a0money\u201d for medallists rather than overall athlete compensation. She defended her stance by arguing that prize money benefits only a small minority, whereas the IOC aims to use its revenues to fund wider athlete pathways.
During our two hours together Lee offers compelling company, and he can be as amusing as he is thoughtful, but he pauses when I ask if he is depressed. \u201cYes, sometimes, 100%. There\u2019ve been times where I\u2019ve looked at my medal and thought: \u2018I wished it had never happened.\u2019 I\u2019ve had that success and it made me understand what it feels like to be at the top, what it feels like to be successful. And now I feel, with how Olympic sport is and what the IOC president said, that transitioning from elite sport is really hard.
\u201cI\u2019ve been depressed here and there, trying to find purpose, trying to find something that aligns with me in terms of work. I was very close to becoming a bartender, because I enjoy making drinks at home. People around me were like: \u2018Don\u2019t.\u2019 Being a bartender is not a bad thing and it\u2019s good to do things you enjoy. But I know me. If I was to do that I\u2019d probably get stuck doing it, and be depressed for the rest of my life because I know what I\u2019m capable of. I think there\u2019s still more of my story to be told but, right now, I\u2019m trying to figure it out.\u201d
We return to Coventry\u2019s controversial statement and Lee shakes his head. \u201cI\u2019m disappointed and I\u2019m not alone. Many athletes spoke up but it\u2019s mainly retired Olympians who are talking about it. I know why. When you\u2019re in sport, especially Olympic sport, you don\u2019t want to upset anyone. Not many current athletes are speaking because they feel they can\u2019t. That\u2019s how I felt. It upsets me because it\u2019s obvious that the system needs change. I\u2019ve been alive since 1998 and, in all that time, I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s looked at the Olympics and gone: \u2018Bunch of amateurs.\u2019 And\u00a0for most sports the Olympics are the pinnacle.\u201d
He hesitates: \u201cI struggle talking about it because I don\u2019t want people to think I\u2019m moaning.\u201d
Lee has done the opposite of moan throughout our interview. Instead, he has explained how he followed his older brother, Tom, into diving at the age of seven and\u00a0described how, gradually, the fun turned into rigorous discipline. Lee improved steadily and won medals at European junior and senior championships.
He used to idolise Daley, who competed in his first Olympics aged 14. In 2018, Lee was invited to become Daley\u2019s partner in the 10m synchro and he moved from Leeds to London to train with his hero. London was expensive but, rather than fretting over money, Lee felt grateful for the opportunity to become one of the best divers in the world as he overcame the psychological demons of a demanding sport.
\u201cTwisting is so important in diving but it can play with your head,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard it from\u00a0Simone Biles who calls [the mental block] the \u2018twisties\u2019<\/a>. It\u2019s real and awful because when that doubt, or block, gets into your mind it\u2019s a complete erasure of remembering how your body moves. I conquered it but it came back towards the end of my career.
\u201cIt was in training rather than competition but I always feared the twisties. If you let it creep into your mind, you can\u2019t get rid of it. So I would have those doubts and stand on the end of the board with the fear someone would feel if they knew a bull was going to chase them. I\u2019m on the edge of a 10m diving board facing backwards, and I\u2019ve got to do this dive. But, in synchro, you count one, two, three, go. At \u2018go\u2019 the memories click in and, phew, I do it.\u201d
Daley struggled even more with twisting manoeuvres and he and Lee settled on a different routine. As Lee says: \u201cMe and Tom went unbeaten the whole year [in 2021] at the Europeans, World Cup, nationals and Olympics. I\u2019ve never been able to dive that well before or\u00a0after. Everything aligned and all the years of training paid off.\u201d
The Chinese pair, Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen, came into the Olympics as seemingly unbeatable world champions. But Lee and Daley believed they could win gold. By the time they climbed the stairs to the board for the sixth and last time, Lee \u201ccould tell Tom was more nervous than I\u2019d ever noticed\u201d, adding: \u201cThere was a lot of pressure as he had been chasing a gold medal for a long time. I just thought: \u2018I\u2019m going to do this to the best of my abilities.\u2019 People talk about \u2018the flow state\u2019 and I had it for that dive. I felt like I\u00a0was watching myself dive and then\u00a0I was buzzing.\u201d
The wait for the final dive by the Chinese was agonising and, after they produced another stunning display, \u201cTom was like: \u2018I think they\u2019ve done it, just.\u2019 I said: \u2018No, this is our time.\u2019 Then, when the scores came up, I felt euphoric as a huge weight had melted off me. Everything we had worked towards our whole lives had happened. That feeling was out of this world.\u201d
The elation lasted for a while and at the end of that year Lee was delighted to finish fifth on I\u2019m\u00a0a\u00a0Celebrity \u2026 Get Me Out of Here! He was also the leading British diver as Daley took a sabbatical in the US. But life can be cruel. Lee\u2019s father, Tim, died suddenly, from an aneurysm, in October 2022.
The devastating loss was accentuated as Lee felt his identity crack and then one injury after another followed. He eventually needed major back surgery which ended his career \u2013 and before then he had been crushed when replaced by Noah Williams as Daley\u2019s partner for the 2024 Olympics. \u201cI was only slightly injured then,\u201d Lee says. \u201cI felt shunted to the side [by the coaches] and very hard done by.\u201d
We talk about how \u201cthe rest of the world thinks you\u2019re flying first class everywhere, with lots of money, but Olympic sport is the most brutal place\u201d, and Lee adds: \u201cThere is no glamour most of the time. For a few weeks every four years everyone cares about Olympic sport and then, the rest of the time, it\u2019s not thought about.\u201d
As he faded back into obscurity, and financial pressures intensified, Lee experienced his first panic attack a year ago this month. \u201cI\u00a0was\u00a0struggling loads with my anxiety and that\u2019s one of the main reasons why I came back to Leeds. Last June my girlfriend Molly and I went to an event at Silverstone. It was really busy and I sat on the bus with Molly and couldn\u2019t speak. I was sweating, my mouth was extremely dry. I felt sick and dizzy. From that point I was more fearful because I knew what had happened, and that it can happen at any point. I feel a lot better since coming back to Leeds. I\u2019d been in a rut of unhappiness.\u201d
Lee has just completed the first season of his podcast, The After Dive<\/a>, which features revealing in\u2011depth interviews with former sports stars such as Rebecca Adlington<\/a>. But he admits: \u201cThe reason why I\u2019m not doing season two yet is because I can\u2019t afford it. I\u2019m losing money and haven\u2019t had a stable income since I retired. I have a decent following on social media but I don\u2019t know if people still care. That\u2019s definitely something you battle with after retiring. You think: \u2018Oh, everyone\u2019s forgotten about me.\u2019 Or I\u2019ll go to an event and none of the interviewers ask me anything. It hurts, especially when you\u2019ve been at the top before.\u201d
The 28-year-old felt that pain acutely when \u201ca couple of weeks ago I went to my dad\u2019s grave with Molly because I\u2019ve had a real struggle finding motivation,\u201d adding: \u201cThis was around the time I\u2019d looked at my bank account and I was like \u2018that\u2019s going to run out if I don\u2019t start working my bum off\u2019. I was in a real awful place but I was like: \u2018This needs to stop. I need to somehow refresh myself.\u2019
\u201cAt the graveside I let out a load of emotion because I\u2019d reached a point where I was thinking: \u2018My dad wouldn\u2019t recognise me any more.\u2019 That\u2019s obviously silly because of course he bloody would, as he was my No 1 supporter. So I\u2019ve felt better since then.\u201d
Lee is open about his feelings but says: \u201cI haven\u2019t been talking as much because I\u2019m not around lots of people. But I try very much to speak to Molly and my mum about it.\u201d
He met Molly near the end of his\u00a0career and says \u201cshe\u2019s actually never\u00a0watched me compete, sadly\u201d, adding: \u201cI try to remind her what I was like in my glory days \u2013 but I fell in love with her because she\u2019s very supportive and caring.\u201d
The glory days might have gone but I tell Lee he has spoken like a champion in addressing the IOC\u2019s non\u2011payment of Olympians and his\u00a0own subsequent struggles. He nods quietly and then says: \u201cI\u00a0spoke to Molly yesterday about this interview and I was like: \u2018I don\u2019t know how honest to be because I haven\u2019t done any interviews for a long time. And in the past they\u2019ve just been about my diving result and good things.\u2019 This is the first time I\u2019ve done an interview where things aren\u2019t going that well. But that\u2019s why it feels so important to be honest now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Olympic gold medallist diver reflects on the financial and emotional challenges since retiring from the sport, and teaming up with his hero Tom Daley\u201cIt\u2019s like I\u2019ve already got an open wound and you\u2019re stabbing me in it,\u201d Matty Lee says as, deep into our second hour at a beautiful old Edwardian swimming pool in Leeds, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}