LONDON, Feb 24: British diving star Tom Daley has hit back at suggestions his career could mirror the unfulfilled promise of retired Russian tennis pin-up Anna Kournikova.

The 17-year-old world champion is one of his country’s main medal hopes for the London Olympics but has faced criticism from British Swimming performance director Alexei Evangulov over his media commitments.

Evangulov last week warned Daley his Olympic medal hopes were at risk in the face of Chinese rivals who were training “three times harder.” The Russian coach on Thursday issued a fresh warning for the teenage star, comparing him to Kournikova.

“It reminds me of the situation in Russia with Kournikova,” he told the Daily Mail. “She looked pretty and made a promising start to her career but the media exposure meant she never got to be the best. She is still in the celebrity news but she never achieved her full potential.

“I am angry because nobody will listen to me. If he stopped all his media work now, I might be able to get him up to the third best diver.

“I don’t mind what he does if he gets the medal. He can become a rock star.” However Daley, who finished a disappointing seventh on Thursday in the FINA Diving World Cup event at the London Olympics Aquatics Centre, insisted he was fully focused on the Olympics.

“The thing with Alexei was he had an interview and that was it. He knows the amount of training I am doing and that I’m doing the right amount of training,” said Daley.

“I’m doing as much as I can. I’m pushing myself as hard as I can go without my body breaking.

“Diving is something I love to do. I do it because it’s fun and I want to do well in it. That’s the only reason I’m in the sport.”

Daley’s synchro diving partner Pete Waterfield, a silver medallist at the Athens Olympics, also defended his team-mate following Thursday’s disappointing World Cup display.

“We didn’t miss a dive because Tom has being doing too much media,” he said. “We missed a dive because we’ve had setbacks with injuries at the beginning of the year.

“I think it’s you guys making it more about the media. You lot keep bringing it up.”—AFP